Brussels welcomes the Pioneers Forum presented by the Solar Impulse Foundation

Advancing solutions and driving climate action

Brussels, Belgium, October, 15 2024 – Tomorrow, in a full scale event, the Solar Impulse Foundation (SIF) is presenting the Pioneers Forum at Maison de la Poste located in la Gare Maritime at Tour & Taxis. As the flagship event of the SIF, the Pioneers Forum is marked by Climate Solutions and will enable members of the Foundation’s ecosystem to leverage this exclusive network, harnessing the potential of efficiency innovations across sectors.

CONNECT & INSPIRE : Matchmaking the big trend leaders in charge of shaping our world today

The Forum will offer a unique exchange of ideas and one-to-one interactions between diverse stakeholders to foster collaborative opportunities in real time, and create the ideal environment to form impactful business partnerships. Additionally, in front of more than 350 attendees including entrepreneurs, investors, academics, researchers and public officers, the event will bring together distinguished leaders from both - the private and public sectors- to explore the economic opportunities presented by transforming cities into sustainable, resilient hubs. The conversation will focus on how industries and businesses can benefit from the shift toward cleaner urban environments while promoting a qualitative economy. The panel will be moderated by Initiator and Chairman of the SIF, Bertrand Piccard and will feature key insights from Ms. Elke Van den Brandt, Minister for Mobility of the Brussels Region, and Mr. Brieuc de Meeûs, CEO of STIB-MIVB, Brussels' public transport authority, Ms. Sophie Desormière, Chief Growth Officer of Aliaxis,Yves Kerstens, CEO of Bekaert, amongst other leaders.

CELEBRATE: Honouring the pioneer spirit to advance efficient solutions

During the second edition of the Pioneer Awards, the SIF will unveil the finalists and winners to celebrate organisations implementing 'Efficient Solutions' across sectors, honouring their pioneering spirit in advancing ecological sustainability.

Throughout the award application period, 160 implementation cases from efficient solutions were analysed by the SIF technical team and 15 finalists were judged by a panel of five independent industry experts who selected the winners from the following sectors: Agrifood & Natural Environment, Building and Construction Industrial Processes and Consumer Goods, Mobility, and Utilities (Water, Energy, Waste). The five winning pairs, each composed by an adopter and the implemented solution, will be announced at the ceremony.

The awards celebrate client-adopters who defy the status quo, turning challenges into opportunities and inspiring others towards a more sustainable future. They showcase the outcomes of effective collaborations with numerous international institutions, states, and cities, highlighting the benefits of structured international governance and the proven achievements of the leaders within this dynamic ecosystem, including innovators, adopters, promoters, experts, and investors. The careful selection of successful case studies empowers the journey of multiple clean technologies that have been able to produce impact as well as prove their likelihood of being replicated or adopted in any other part of the world.

“There are enough available solutions to protect the environment in an economically viable way. The Solar Impulse Foundation has identified and labelled already more than 1,500 of them and works with governments and corporations to push for their implementation. But it takes too long. This is why we have to applaud each time a big company adopts a new solution and gives it an opportunity to grow. In collaboration with forward looking industries, the Pioneer Awards want to show the value of replacing what destroys the environment by what protects it,” said Dr. Bertrand Piccard, Initiator and Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation.

 Find below the finalists list by categories:

AGRIFOOD: Presented in collaboration with EIT Food

• Hotels Magic Costa Blanca implemented FIT Food Waste Monitoring Tech by LightBlue Consulting (Thailand)  - A cost-effective system that addresses key questions such as how much food is wasted, when, where, what type it is, why it occurs, and the associated costs.

• Ijora Market implemented Koolhome by KoolBoks (France) - an affordable off-grid solution that is able to generate continuous refrigeration for up to 4 days, even in the absence of power and limited sunlight by storing solar energy in the form of ice, rather than in batteries.

• Namur Agri Energie implemented Agrivoltaic by Ether Energy (Belgium)- a company specialised in the development of large-scale eco-friendly agri-photovoltaic solutions in Belgium, Luxembourg & France.

 BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION:  

• Patrizia SE implemented Dabbel AI by DABBEL (Germany) - Automation Intelligence GmbH with the mission to develop and provide the most scalable, cost-efficient, and sustainable software to decarbonise commercial buildings worldwide as fast as possible.

• Severn Trent Water implemented  Behavioural Insights platform by Advizzo (UK) - This SaaS solution offers a set of interconnected cloud platforms connected to any data sources and linked to users to help them enjoy more personalised customer experiences, better customer service and relevant action to retrofit their homes, save energy, water, money and carbon emissions.

• Société du Grand Paris / Eiffage implemented DRAMIX by Bekaert  (Belgium) - Dramix steel fibre reinforces concrete and is used instead of traditional concrete reinforcement methods such as mesh or rebar to reduce the CO2 emissions by up to 35%.

Industrial Processes & Consumer Goods :

• Bupa Cromwell Hospital implemented Internationally scalable waste anaesthetic capture and recycling system by SageTech (UK) - This solution prevents the atmospheric discharge of anaesthetic, collects the exhaled drug by patients who have received it, and re-purifies it, fit for human re-use.

• Villeroy & Boch implemented The EcoStock by Eco-Tech Ceram (France)- The solution recovers the heat contained in industrial fumes and stores it in refractory ceramics made from industrial co-products.

• ADEO/Dexter implemented Tiamat Sodium-ion cells by Tiamat Energy (France) - responds to unsatisfied power needs thanks to its unique and patented Na-based active raw material. This solution offers superior safety compared to reference technologies, Tiamat's battery cell is also offering a long cycle life.

MOBILITY: Presented in collaboration with Movin’On

• Alizés / Jifmar Group implemented OCEANiCS by D-ICE Engineering (France) - a high-end system-OCEANiCS- tailor-made with specific functions for hybrid ships. With one single system, mariners will be able to do navigation; from nautical charts management and planning, weather routing, autopilot, monitoring and optimization.

• Montgomery County implemented EcoStruxure ™ EV Charging Expert by AlphaStruxure and Schneider Electric (France) - a solution that helps when the energy demand from a building is likely to exceed the available supply from the transformer when EV charging is installed, EcoStruxure EV Charging Expert redistributes the loads, eliminating the need to upgrade a transformer or electrical devices in the building.

• TransItalia implemented TruckY by MinervaS (Italy) - a solution that offers a reduction in fuel consumption up to 30% and the containment of the related polluting emissions, without increasing travel times and modifications to the vehicle.

UTILITIES (Water, Energy & Waste)- presented in collaboration with EIT Innoenergy)

• PreZero implemented WagaBox by Waga Energy (France) - WAGABOX technology guarantees grid compliant biomethane regardless of air concentration in landfill gas. It adapts to raw gas flow rates and composition variations and delivers three times more energy than CHP, the most approaching competing technology.

• A2A Ciclo Idrico implemented AQS by Aliaxis (Israel)- AQS technologies empower water utilities to detect and prevent leaks, enabling proactive continuous monitoring and efficient management of water networks, to reduce NRW (Non-revenue water) and optimise resource allocation.

• Lemvig Vand  implemented Hecla(R) Setores by AquaGreen (Denmark) - AquaGreen dries and pyrolyse (heat to 650 °C) the sludge turning it into useful resources - energy and biochar w. phosphorus - solving environmental and climate problems of sewage sludge.

The Forum starts at 12 H and includes a keynote speech by Initiator and Chairman of the SIF, Bertrand Piccard, a networking luncheon, business meetings, and the awards ceremony which will be presented at 15H on October 16th. The Forum will conclude with a visit to SIF’s cleantech exhibition “City of Tomorrow” and a cocktail.