The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is seeking energy innovators from across the nation to take part in Incubate 2019 – a three-day, competitively selected innovation lab.
Over recent years, innovation labs have emerged as a way to tackle large-scale, complex, whole-of-system challenges, particularly those with strong social elements.
They are used in business, community and government contexts across the globe to drive systemic change by exploring, developing and testing new ideas rapidly.
A-Lab is ARENA’s innovation lab and was created to foster and strengthen cross-sector partnerships and world-first projects that could lead Australia towards a clean energy future.
ARENA is looking for up to 10 teams to participate in this year’s A-Lab program, Incubate 2019, which will be held in Sydney on 11-13 September 2019.
Successful teams will be given the opportunity to fast track an idea from concept to a fully-fledged project proposal ready for investment – with the help of industry experts, investors and technical consultants.
ARENA states that each team will ideally be cross-sector and multi-disciplinary with people from multiple organisations across the energy sector, and may include combinations of innovators, disruptors, technology providers, project developers, energy retailers, network businesses, customers, regulators and rule-makers.
Further, each team’s project must be actively under development, although it may range from an idea just brought into existence to a project well underway.
Projects could range from technology development all the way to technology demonstration and deployment in market trials.
Areas of interest for the session include delivering technology and business model solutions to enable higher shares of renewables in the electricity grid, supporting the growth of Australia’s renewable hydrogen industry, and helping industry transition to renewables.
This year’s event will carry on the success arising from Incubate 2018 which saw 10 teams participate, with several projects still in the ARENA funding process.
Applications are open until 5pm Friday 2 August 2019.
Further details and application information can be found here.