About THE PROGRAMME
Context and Goals
A paradigm shift is urgently needed to reverse the negative trends in global environmental and social issues (such as loss of biodiversity, scarcity of natural resources, climatic changes, increased pollutants and wastes, economic and social disparities, etc.).
Sustainability initiatives will not be sufficient to save our civilization and the Earth as we know it today. A rapid transition towards a regenerative economy is required.
To this end, Tech4Regeneration fosters collaborations between different stakeholders to help disruptive startups deploy and scale-up their technologies through regenerative business models and strategies. Founded and managed by the EPFL Innovation Park, the accelerator programme aims to reach a critical mass of gifted and skilled leaders, partner institutions, and corporations, to accelerate the mass adoption of regenerative solutions. This is taking place within an ambitious project to build a “Regeneration Hub” physically hosted at EPFL Ecotope and connecting a large international community of like-minded pioneers.
The French-speaking part of Switzerland is a breeding ground for innovation in this area, with the emergence of numerous startups from the EPFL and the universities, and the presence of many international organizations and corporations which act as sounding boards.
Beyond Cleantech/Greentech, the focus is on technologies for the regeneration of essential resources and systems. While clean technologies aim to reduce damage to the environment, regenerative technologies aim to restore and regenerate it.
Photo courtesy of Ecorobotix SA — Innovative solutions for sustainable agriculture.
1 Billion
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Application fields
TEAM & Mentors
Dr. Cara Tobin
Dr. Cara Tobin
Innovation Coach, Founder | C Greene Solutions
Cara founded a successful blended climate finance platform in 2015.
In 2018, she was invited to join Clean Energy Ventures (CEV) where she mentors start-ups funded by CEV at seed and Series A levels.
Cara mentors approximately 40 companies annually for Mass Challenge (MC) Switzerland as their climate solutions and sustainable manufacturing coach. She supports MC start-ups to identify KPIs, improve pitches and financial projections and find paid pilots and investment. This year, Cara supported start-ups to quantify their impacts on the SDGs. In 2023, she coached 6 of the top 10 start-ups and has received the highest ratings as a coach for 2 consecutive years. Some of the start-ups that Cara has coached/is coaching include: LiveGrow Bio, Carbonaught, Gaia Technologies, Databaum, Revocircle and Instaheat.
Cara is also an Energy and Environment expert for Innosuisse and accredited Special Coach for Sustainable business strategies and impact measurement (SDGs).
Dr. Eric Favre
Dr. Eric Favre
Startups coach & innovation expert
Passionate, successful, and seasoned engineering and innovation executive, having led multiple R&D teams around the world, benefiting from a sharp and holistic business understanding to shape and optimize processes, tools, and organizations, to timely deliver and produce new products impacting the business, creating value for all stakeholders.
Took benefit from the above to coach and drive technology startups to success, highly appreciated by owners and shareholders, staying close to small SMEs and research organizations to develop collaborations and a proper agile innovation mindset.
MSc (1986) and PHD (1990) from EPFL, then always active in developing business / products (motors &electronics, sensors, fluidic related products) for OEM customers, working first 10 years for a startup (ETEL), then 10 years for a mid-size and global sensors’ company (LEM), then 12 years for a large multinational (IMI) as Global Engineering Director.
Laurent Botaya
Laurent Botaya
Head of innovation strategy and Venture Building | Romande Energie SA (RE Ventures)
Passionate about the forces that are driving change in our society, such as the transition to lower-carbon economy and innovations, I have a dual academic background (engineering/business school) and 16 years of work experience. A few achievements:
- helped a new intrant in the energy sector develop its renewable energy activities on the French market
- defined the growth strategy for a major transportation company in the Americas and assessed new opportunities
- helped launch a tech start up (BtoC, text to speech technology)
- managed business development for a Canadian SME that specializes in advanced healthcare technologies
- worked as a strategy consultant for various large European companies (banks, insurance, telecom…)
- performed due diligences on startups in the energy sector for investment banks
- and finally created my own consulting services (strategy, impact investing and energy transition)
Vincent Bieri
Vincent Bieri
Nexthink (UNICORN)
Co-founder of Nexthink, a Swiss Unicorn, Vincent played a pivotal role in scaling the company from inception, pioneering the Digital Employee Experience (DEX) market globally.
With a solid foundation at Cisco, where he spent 7 years in systems engineering and product marketing, Vincent seamlessly transitioned from a successful professional cycling career.
Today, he is not only an advisor and investor, supporting entrepreneurs and innovators, but also a passionate mountaineer. Vincent embodies a unique blend of entrepreneurial acumen and adventurous spirit.
CORE Partners
The EPFL Innovation Park enjoys a strong track record of scaling up disruptive tech and bringing startups to success. It provides flexible office and lab spaces close to EPFL institutes, as well as acceleration services to 300+ high-tech companies: startups, scale-ups and innovation cells of major corporations. With the support of a wide and dynamic network of experts, business partners and investors, it runs several equity-free accelerators open to Swiss and international startups.
The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL; English: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne) is a public research university in Lausanne, Switzerland. Established in 1969, EPFL has placed itself among the most prestigious universities in the world for the quality of its education and research in engineering and natural sciences.
Romande Energie Group is the leading supplier of electricity in Western Switzerland and a mainstay in the Swiss energy industry. It offers several sustainable solutions for the distribution and generation of electricity in addition to energy services, which include energy efficiency and electromobility.
All its generation assets are driven by renewable sources of energy.
Logitech helps all people pursue their passions and is committed to doing so in a way that is good for people and the planet.
We design hardware and software solutions that help businesses thrive and bring people together when working, creating, gaming and streaming.
Brands of Logitech include Logitech, Logitech G, Streamlabs and Ultimate Ears.
The Service de la promotion de l'économie et de l'innovation (SPEI) supports and advises companies and entrepreneurs based in the canton of Vaud. SPEI provides direct financial grant, in particular to accelerate innovation or the transition to sustainability. It supports and advises companies, start-ups and project leaders in their collaborations with the cantonal administration, and directs them to the appropriate entities according to their specific needs, such as coaching, financing, innovation or finding land or premises.
Contributors
Network Partners
Common Questions
In September 2023, an international team of scientists quantified, for the first time, all nine processes that regulate the stability and resilience of the Earth system.
These nine planetary boundaries were first proposed by former centre director Johan Rockström and a group of 28 internationally renowned scientists in 2009.
Since then, their framework has been revised several times.
Now the latest update not only quantified all boundaries, it also concludes that six of the nine boundaries have been transgressed.
Credit: Azote for Stockholm Resilience Centre, based on analysis in Richardson et al 2023
Regenerative solutions refer to a set of practices, processes, systems and technologies that aim to restore and revitalize natural systems and resources, rather than simply exploiting or transforming them.
The goal of regenerative solutions is to create positive impacts on the environment, communities, and human well-being, e.g. by regenerating and restoring ecological systems, soil fertility, clean water, and other vital resources.
Regenerative technology often involves using natural systems as a model for technological solutions and emphasizes the importance of creating closed-loop systems where waste is minimized or recycled, and resources are conserved and regenerated. It is a holistic approach to technology development that recognizes the interconnectedness of all living systems and seeks to create positive, sustainable solutions to the challenges facing our planet and its inhabitants.
We are looking for any technical solution or service capable of generating a net positive impact in at least one of the 7 categories of the programme (Natural Resources, Food & Agriculture, Energy, Infrastructures, Transportation, Circular Economy and Enabling Technologies such as Green IT, materials and chemicals, etc.)
The programme aims at accelerating the deployment of regenerative solutions to fill societal needs while reversing the breaches of our planetary boundaries.
Image: Kate Raworth and Christian Guthier/The Lancet Planetary Health
More information: The Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries (2017)
It takes a holistic approach to create truly regenerative businesses. Creating a positive impact with a specific technology is not sufficient if it is counterbalanced by the production of highly negative social or environmental externalities.
But addressing the impact of all the activities of your company in a comprehensive approach is precisely the aim of the program. All you need to have at the beginning is a regenerative tech and a strong vision for your venture, as well as unwavering determination, boldness and pugnacity, combined with the open, empathic and collaborative attitude required to develop a new – and vital - regenerative economy.
Regenerative Entrepreneurship consists in developing solutions and businesses that contribute to the transition to a regenerative economy.
" The ‘take-make-waste’ mode of organizing is not sustainable, it’s time for a new work culture that prioritizes human resourcefulness and resilience.
" A regenerative economy means moving away from extractive business models and unlocking the potential for positive contributions for nature and society.
— ref. Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment — Regenerative Economy
" Regenerative Entrepreneurs and Positive Impact Companies (PICs) have emerged in recent years with a new way of doing business. They adopt a 360°approach and have a social and environmental purpose at the core of their businesses. They go beyond current notions of sustainability, shifting our economy away from its roots of extraction and exploitation towards caretaking and Regeneration.
— ref. The Positive Impact— From Sustainability to Regeneration
" Regeneration is the process that delivers sustainable living systems as the outcome of that process.
— ref. The Capital Institute — 8 Principles of a Regenerative Economy
" Regeneration is the process of rebuilding or renewal of the common good — taking an asset, resource, ecosystem, individual, family, organization, community, or place, from crisis and collapse to recovery and regeneration.
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