Our aim: £10M to inclusive solutions that enable communities to climb the energy ladder with clean, reliable and affordable energy
Energy access remains a pressing problem for many communities in low- and middle-income countries around the world, with 759 million people living without basic levels of electricity.
Even for communities that do have grid access, households may be subject to frequent blackouts and grid disturbances and therefore rely on diesel generators or other fossil fuel-based alternatives.
We urgently need low carbon energy systems that are self-sufficient, repairable and resilient to climate impacts. At the same time, we need solutions at a price point that enables all households, businesses and services within a community to meet not only their basic energy needs but also to step-up and climb the energy ladder and contribute to local economic development.
By focusing outreach on local and underrepresented groups, including women and young people, a prize can incentivise new actors as well as new approaches to the challenge of energy access.
Startups in this space often struggle to access finance, with venture capital requiring a rapid return on investment that is difficult to achieve in low-income markets. Challenge prizes can fill this gap, allowing innovators to experiment with different models of delivery to develop sustainable and scalable purpose- driven business solutions.
Ten different city or regional authorities in low and middle-income countries will be chosen as community testbeds that span different contexts, including off- grid rural communities and urban or peri-urban informal settlements as well as more affluent neighbourhoods.
These testbeds would each invite innovators to develop decentralised energy solutions enabling households, businesses and services within that community to benefit from an improved level of access to electricity relative to their local average baseline.
Solutions may utilise new or existing renewable energy technologies and products, but they must be tailored to the local context and deliver an electricity supply at a capacity and price point that meets the diverse needs of everyone within the community.
Get in touch if you are interested in collaborating on this future prize.
This prize idea is designed to be a conversation starter, so tell us what you think!
The best prize ideas are developed through extensive research and engagement with experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience of the problems they are focused on. We start with a first draft like the one above – then work to improve, refine and validate our thinking.
We’re particularly keen to have conversations about this idea with potential funders and organisations working in the field. Get in touch if you’re interested – or if you think you have a better idea – and we’ll schedule a call.
Challenge Works has put together a report shedding light on the role of challenge prizes in revitalising the UK Innovation Strategy.
Challenge prizes can complement grants, reduce risk in portfolios of government innovation investments, and can be particularly effective at stimulating near-market innovation targeting specific outcomes and private R&D investment.
