Andorra Recerca + Innovació promotes an international challenge to find technological solutions to deal with extreme weather phenomena in mountain areas
Andorra Research + Innovation, in collaboration with the PLANETech cluster of the Israel Institute of Innovation and the Mountain Partnership of the United Nations, is launching an international challenge to find innovative solutions to deal with extreme weather phenomena in mountain areas. The aim is to develop technologies that help to predict, manage and reduce the impact of forest fires, floods, storms, extreme temperatures... phenomena that are predicted to become more frequent and more intense due to climate change, and which have serious environmental, economic and social consequences.
The andorran challenge, which is being promoted jointly with PLANETech, the Climate Technology Innovation Cluster (Climtech) of the Israel Institute of Innovation, aims to connect local and international innovators to find new solutions to climate change challenges. During the presentation of the challenge, the Secretary of State for Economic Diversification and Innovation, Marc Galabert, said that the initiative is part of "the actions of the innovation and entrepreneurship strategy to strengthen the mechanisms and processes in this area open to the country, while promoting Andorra as a living lab of international innovation to work with local and worldwide startups". The leader recalled that the project is part of the strategic alliance between Andorrra Recerca +Innovació and the Israel Institute of Innovation, fruit of the line opened between the two countries following the visit, in December 2019, of the Minister of the Presidency, Economy and Enterprise, Jordi Gallardo, to the Israeli state.
The initiative is a way to connect potential developers and users both in the country and beyond Andorra's borders. The participants can be start-ups, innovators in early stages of development, both from the academic field and established entrepreneurs, as well as established companies that have technologies that can be oriented towards this field of application. As the director of Andorra Research + Innovation, Marc Pons said, the challenge "will result in projects based on new technologies (Climtech) that will reduce risks and increase resilience in the face of extreme weather conditions that may occur both in Andorra and in any other mountainous area".
The registration period opens this Monday, May 2, at 11 am, through the website https://www.planetech.org/extreme-weather. Andorran companies interested in this initiative should send an email to livinglab@ari.ad and Andorra Recerca + Innovació will accompany them throughout the process. On June 23, three finalists will be announced, who will have a few weeks of training by experts from PLANETech and AR+I, in order to evaluate in detail the impact of the proposals presented. The announcement of the winner, who will receive $50,000 to carry out a pilot test in the Principality, will be made on September 20, during the PLANETech City Day.
The challenge is also being promoted by the United Nations Mountain Partnership, an alliance of governments and entities that work in a coordinated manner to promote more sustainable development in mountain areas. Thus, the initiative that is launched from Andorra is part of the events scheduled for the international year of sustainability in the mountains, promoted by the United Nations.
PLANETech is an innovation community born from the synergy between the Israel Institute of Innovation and the Consensus Business Group, an investment fund created in 2003 in the United Kingdom that seeks to promote the development of projects and startups that present useful services or products in the field of long-term climate change.