Strengthening innovation in Vaud
This collaboration marks a new stage in the canton of Vaud's commitment to supporting innovation while contributing to the fight against climate change. By working together, the canton of Vaud and SIF are positioning themselves as key players in sustainable innovation, creating synergies between decision-makers, entrepreneurs and investors to make the canton of Vaud a globally competitive model of sustainable development.
Thanks to this collaboration, which combines the international expertise of the Solar Impulse Foundation with the canton's strategic resources, Vaud companies will be able to access global opportunities while strengthening the Canton's position as a leader in sustainable innovation.
The Canton of Vaud has an important role to play in the energy transition, thanks to the hundreds of clean technologies being developed here. By promoting these inventions, in collaboration with the Vaud authorities, the Solar Impulse Foundation will enable local talent to take off on an international scale, and position themselves as leaders of a cleaner, more sustainable human society.
Bertrand Piccard
KITRO
Simplifying food waste management for commercial kitchens
Founded in 2017, KITRO is a Swiss startup embarking on a global challenge by harnessing the power of technology and using it for sustainable change. Created by hospitality insiders, the company strives to bring back the value of food, so it is appreciated and not wasted. With artificial intelligence as the foundation, KITRO offers an automated food waste data collection and analysis solution that can be adopted by food and beverage outlets worldwide. Customers are empowered to prevent unnecessary waste through long-term data collection and optimized operational practices. They can benefit from 8% savings in their annual food cost and reduce up to 60% of avoidable food waste.
AELER Smart Container
A shipping container with Artificial Intelligence
With this solution, logistics stakeholders can reduce their risks and act proactively on events throughout the supply chain. The Smart Container reduces transportation costs while monitoring what is happening in real-time to the container itself and the cargo. It therefore provides real-time actionable information which increases the efficiency of the logistics process. A large suit of sensors are available which measure: temperature, humidity, pressure, GPS, altitude, impact, door opening, light and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Additionally, the Smart Container is insulated for the transport of sensitive goods.
Insolagrin
A dynamic agrivoltaic solution developed to protect crops and produce renewable energy on the same land.
The combination of agriculture and photovoltaics (Agrivoltaics or APV) holds promise for enabling Europe's energy transition through dual land use. APV can be deployed at a lower cost than rooftop PV while improving agricultural yields and water use. However, current solutions rely on conventional opaque silicon panels, which is not optimal because they must be widely spaced to minimize the impact on agricultural yields. In fact, Insolagrin allows for PVA with no trade-off between electricity and agricultural production. Electricity is produced for approximately 250 households per hectare per year, while protecting the crops. The impact on the land area required for solar PV production is enormous, since the densification is 100%. This solution also decarbonizes agriculture, increases farmers' income and reduces water consumption.
Water Intelligence Platform
An IoT & AI platform connecting 100B+ water assets off-radar today to enable water-energy savings
Vendors & operators are unable to assess the performance, the need for maintenance and consumable replenishment of their water assets because they are offline today. This includes sanitary ware, filtration systems and appliances. Droople is building the Internet of Water based on IoT & AI connecting 100B+ assets to monitor them, predict their maintenance and enable water-energy savings for those operators and vendors via a hybrid business model based on hardware sales and software subscription plan. Droople's solution aims to reduce unplanned interventions, 24/7 monitoring of your assets in the field, increase your consumable sales and enable water-energy savings.
GREENOVA
An automated aeroponics system to grow full-size leafy greens in commercial greenhouses
Our solution addresses customers such as growers, processors, and distributors who want to produce locally grown, fresh, pesticide-free leafy greens. Our unique single-flow industrial-sized mobile aeroponics solution (GREENOVA) grows leafy vegetables and aromatic medicinal herbs. Our mobile aeroponics equipment comprises an irrigation robot that sprays water and nutrients directly to the roots of the plants that are held by cultivation modules and a crop management software (GURU) to assist with the greenhouse manager’s tasks, ensure full traceability, manoeuvre crop modules for smooth execution and track data. Crops bloom using our precision spraying system that provides full oxygen availability with minimum microbiological risks.
Voltiron
Color-optimized solar modules allowing the combination of energy and crops production
Food systems have a significant carbon footprint and a lot can be done to decarbonate our favorite fruits and vegetables. Voltiris' solution, consisting of color-optimized solar modules compatible with crop production, enables the energetic transition of greenhouses and allows greenhouse owners to gain in sustainability, energetic independence and viability. The solution, based on a spectral filtering technology, is compatible with high-light crops. Hence, growers can fully leverage the large surface of their greenhouses to cover them at max 35% with Voltiris modules. For a standard 5ha greenhouse, this results in up to ~17,500 solar modules installed, hence transforming the greenhouse into a photovoltaic power plant. The solution brings innovations on both the solar module and an innovative 2-axis solar-tracking system that allow to produce as much electricity as standard panels resulting in a very competitive LCOE.
Geothermal panel
Heat exchangers using geothermal energy to provide a new source of heat/cold for heat pumps
Imagine a world where any underground structure, including parking garages, basements, tunnels, and pedways, can be turned into a clean thermal energy source for buildings. Enerdrape can make this happen. Enerdrape develops the first available modular, prefabricated, and scalable geothermal panel technology that allows turning any new or existing underground infrastructure into a renewable source for the heating and cooling of buildings. By offering energy professionals and building owners a low-carbon, cost-competitive, and easy-to-install solution to avoid CO2 emissions associated with thermal energy supply and increase the use of on-site renewables, Enerdrape fosters the decarbonization of the building sector.
SynchroGuard
An innovative smart grid solution to increase the integration of renewables and reliability of power system
SynchroGuard is an innovative monitoring and automation solution for smart grids. Thanks to unique measurement devices and advanced data-processing algorithms, it provides to utility operators a real-time view of the grid status, enables safe integration of renewable energies and electric vehicles by efficiently managing power flows, and improves grid reliability by accurately locating electrical faults. The goal is to support electrical utilities in the power grid modernisation and digitisation that is mainly driven by increasing power generation from renewables energies and electric vehicles as well as stringent regulatory requirements.
CO₂ network
A compact thermal network using CO2 as an energy carrier in a closed loop, exploiting natural resources and waste heat
ExerGo's CO₂ networks provide sustainable, affordable and efficient heating and cooling services to cities and communities around the world. Using natural resources such as lakes, rivers, oceans, geothermal energy or waste heat, ExerGo's thermal networks efficiently distribute energy using CO₂ in a closed loop. The excellent energy-carrying capabilities of CO₂ allow a thermal network to be deployed in a densely populated area using small flexible pipes. This helps to save high costs and time for construction and piping, enabling utilities, municipalities, private and public companies to accelerate the decarbonization of building heating and cooling in dense urban areas, where a CO₂ network can act as a smart thermal grid, optimizing supply and demand between users all year round. Compatible with standard HVAC systems and heat harvesting technologies, ExerGo networks are suitable for various residential, commercial and industrial applications.
ExoSol
A fertile planting substrate that re-uses infertile urban excavation materials to create urban green spaces
ExoSol recycles excavation materials (mainly landfilled) to create the numerous urban green spaces that will need to be created in the years to come to counter the effects of global warming. Agricultural soil thus remains in an agricultural environment and urban soil in cities, which also reduces the flow of transport and greenhouse gases.
