On the afternoon of December 8, the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies cooperated with Touchstone Partners and Temasek Foundation to organize the final round of the Net Zero Challenge 2023. Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai attended the program.
There are 9 teams participating in the Net Zero Challenge finals, to select 3 winning teams. The Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies will support 3 selected green ideas in piloting in Ho Chi Minh City in particular and Vietnam in general, to support successful pilot implementation on a large scale.
The three winning solutions for the three categories include: Alterno (Vietnam) - Low-cost thermal energy storage system using sand batteries, in the Renewable Energy and Carbon Neutrality category; Forte Biotech (Singapore/Vietnam) - Rapid on-site testing for shrimp disease detection, in the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems category; AirX Carbon (Vietnam) - Cost-effective alternative to plastic made from bio-waste, in the Circular Economy and Waste Management category. The total prize is over 15 billion VND.
In addition, there are two Investment prizes, each worth $50,000, awarded to two units, AirX Carbon and Alterno.
The Net Zero Challenge was launched in August 2023 by Touchstone Partners (a foreign venture capital fund targeting technology startup founders in Vietnam) and Temasek Foundation (a non-profit organization under Temasek, an investment arm of the Singapore government). This is an international competition on technology solutions to combat climate change, held for the first time in Vietnam, in collaboration with the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies. This year's competition received more than 300 applications from 45 countries around the world. The category that received the most applications was Sustainable Food and Agriculture Systems.
The nine teams participating in the Net Zero Challenge finals are:
Topic 1: Renewable Energy and Carbon Neutrality
Alterno (Vietnam) - Low-cost thermal energy storage system using sand batteries.
Sierra Energy & NSEC (USA/Vietnam) - Producing fuel from mixed waste through gasification.
VOX Cool (UK) - Smart cold battery to reduce CO2 emissions in the cold chain.
Topic 2: Food Systems and Sustainable Agriculture
Forte Biotech (Singapore/Vietnam) - Rapid on-site testing for disease detection in shrimp.
NEORICE (Vietnam) - Organic rice farming process according to USDA standards, saving costs and emissions.
Tepbac (Vietnam) - Smart, low-cost aquaculture and farm management system for small farmers.
Topic 3: Circular Economy and Waste Management
AirX Carbon (Vietnam) - A cost-competitive alternative to plastic made from bio-waste.
GreenPod Labs (India) - Bio-packaging solutions to increase shelf life of fruits and vegetables.
Origo Eco (Malaysia) – Shipping pallets using rice husks and agricultural waste.
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