Do you have an innovation which could help cut the lighting bill or water use of a major supermarket chain?

The Institute for Sustainability, in partnership with the Climate Knowledge and Innovation Network (Climate-KIC) and supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, is running a competition to help innovative businesses to get their products to market. The competition will focus on innovations which reduce the amount of energy used on lighting and the quantity of clean water used in the company’s stores. 

The winner will have the opportunity to demonstrate their innovation at a Sainsbury’s supermarket with the potential to roll out their product across the UK. Selected runners-up will be able to access a network of potential innovation buyers. For those whose products aren’t yet market ready, there will be the chance to compete for prizes of support from the Climate-KIC community, including a €20,000 voucher to be spent on innovation support with a network of experts across Europe.

The competition is part of the Climate Market Accelerator (CMA) project, which aims to speed up the time it takes for climate change adaptation and mitigation innovations to reach the market. The CMA is working to do this by focusing on the demand side of the supply chain, bringing buyers together to shape the market and helping innovators to provide solutions which are demand-led.

More information on the competition, along with an application form, can be found on the competition website: www.cmacompetition.co.uk .  Information regarding heating and lighting requirements can be found here.

The closing date for entries is 1 August 2012 and the winners will be announced in September.

The competition is open to all, but Climate-KIC support is only available to SMEs with no more than 100 employees, headquarters within the European Union and which have received no more than €200,000 (≈£160,000) De Minimis funding over the last three years. More information on De Minimis funding can be found on the competition website.