COMMERCIALISING CLEAN TECH & LOW CARBON INNOVATION
Eigen Ventures Ltd provide business support services to low-carbon and clean tech innovators and funding agencies. We design, set-up and deliver Business Support and Acceleration Programmes for clean tech innovation. We are currently a delivery partner for:
UK Government (DESNZ) - Net-Zero Innovation Portfolio Acceleration Services
Innovate UK - Energy Catalyst Accelerator
ES Catapult - Energy Launchpad
Eigen also work directly with start-ups and SME businesses helping to plan and build new ventures and bring innovative low-carbon solutions to market.
Members of Eigen's team have been working in clean tech commercialisation since 2005. We have designed, set-up and managed leading UK low-carbon innovation support programmes for Carbon Trust, DESNZ, BEIS/DECC, Innovate UK and the Catapult network. We have supported several hundred cleantech innovators helping them to develop their business propositions for a wide range of low-carbon products and services across:
Energy, Buildings and Homes, Transport, Industrial sectors.
PROGRAMMES & SERVICES
DESNZ NET ZERO INNOVATION PORTFOLIO - NZIP ACCELERATION SERVICES
2021- Ongoing. Eigen is a lead partner in the delivery of acceleration and business support to SMEs and start-ups receiving funding from the UK Government's Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP). We are part of the programme design and set-up team and Eigen's Associates coordinate work from the NZIP Accelerator Consortium to provide targeted support to clean tech SMEs in areas such as: Market Intelligence, Value Propositions, Partner Engagement, Technology Commercialisation Strategy, Manufacturing Design & Supply, Team Development, Investment planning and Investor readiness. We work directly with SME leadership teams to diagnose business gaps and questions, assess commercial options and priorities, and then scope and coordinate support from appropriate experts within the Accelerator Consortia: Carbon Trust, Energy Systems Catapult, Mott MacDonald, KPMG, Eigen Ventures and from specialists at the High-Value Manufacturing Catapult centres, E4Tech (technical), Sustainable Ventures (start-up incubator), Greenhouse (PR), DWF (Legal), Novagraaf (IP).
INNOVATE UK - ENERGY CATALYST ACCELERATOR
2020-ongoing. As a delivery partner to the Carbon Trust, Eigen coordinate and provide business support services to Energy Catalyst grant recipients. We also helped design and set up the Accelerator programme during the 2020 Covid-19 lock-down. Eigen's Associate team work directly with SMEs and Energy Catalyst project teams to identify commercialisation planning gaps and needs and then coordinates targeted business support from programme partners in the UK, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. This includes Carbon Trust, Eigen Ventures, Energy 4 Impact, Intellecap, Open Capital Advisors, DWF, Shoosmiths, Value for Women, African Management Institute.
ENERGY SYSTEMS CATAPULT - ENERGY LAUNCHPAD
2019-ongoing: Eigen is one of the suppliers of services to the Energy Launchpad which enables SMEs to access a combination of the ES Catapult's cross-sectoral expertise in energy systems transformation together with private sector expertise in building clean energy businesses. This model has proven very successful delivering tailored Incubation and Acceleration support to over 50 SMEs in its first 2 years. Eigen was Interim Manager for the pilot and has delivered consulting projects for several SMEs in Energy Launchpad.
2018-19 Eigen and 350IP co-designed and delivered the pilot for the ES Catapult's Energy Launchpad the UK's first accelerator designed specifically for energy innovators.
GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY - FLEX LONDON
Partnering with Energy Unlocked in 2018-2020, Eigen brought together large energy users and innovators to identify opportunities to 'flex' when energy was used or generated to benefit the energy user, the power network, or local area and city infrastructure. London's scope for Energy Flexibility could be a significant contribution to accommodate more renewable energy generation nationally and to manage additional demand on the grid from electric vehicles and the electrification of heat. Supported by the Mayor of London, FlexLondon was part of the Energy for Londoners programme to make London’s homes warm, healthy and affordable, its workplaces more energy efficient, and to supply the capital with more local clean energy.
SUPPORT TO START-UPS AND SMES
Our team has supported over 350 low-carbon start-ups and SMEs. Examples of what we do for SMEs includes:
Business Development and Market Engagement e.g. for a home energy innovator. Over 20 contact interviews leading to business development introductions and improved customer value proposition.
Assess Market Needs and Prioritise Opportunities e.g. Developed market strategy, outline service proposition, and sizing revenue opportunities for an SME with a geospatial data analysis platform for low-carbon technology deployment.
Business Model and Value Proposition development e.g. with an SME with a smart building services integration platform.
Investment Readiness support. Detailed input to business investment propositions, pitch-packs, business plans and capital needs analysis, and investor screening.
Team appraisals to align performance with growth goals provided by an Associate and certified business coach.
STUDIES
Eigen has helped deliver the following studies:
2021 British Business Bank survey: Small Business Transition to Net Zero - Eigen prepared the framework for characterising types and maturity of net-zero activity amongst SME
2021 UK Net-Zero Capabilities - using an AI platform to identify populations of businesses with capabilities relevant to net-zero roadmaps in: building retrofit, decarbonising heat, hydrogen economy, smart flexible energy systems, and EV adoption.
2019 Landscape of UK and West Midlands Innovation Support accessible to SMEs in Housing, Energy, Transport and Industrial sectors. Eigen characterised 150 programmes and interviewed a sample, to show relative coverage and gaps by type of support and sector. This work was part of evidence gathering for the ES Catapult/Climate-KIC publication "D4E: An energy innovation platform for the West Midlands"
2018 Landscape of UK and International Business Accelerators and Incubators that included some focus on Energy innovators.
2017 Stakeholders in Local Area Energy Planning. Engaged with government, public and private sector stakeholders to assess upcoming needs for local area energy planning tools.
LANDLORD ENERGY MODELS
Working with partners, Eigen has delivered consulting projects looking at ways that Build-to-Rent and Social Landlords can benefit from the energy transition. With 350IP, we compared options for a BTR Landlord to improve building energy efficiency, participate in renewable energy and storage, offer EV charging and heat services to tenants, and extract value from energy flexibility. We interviewed energy suppliers and service providers to gauge which market offerings BTR landlords could feasibly exploit to create new income streams or reduce the cost of decarbonising homes. With Energy Unlocked we facilitated an expert focus group to work up a 3rd party finance model for smart-energy in social housing. We have also engaged with the housing sector on behalf of several innovative SMEs to develop their understanding of the needs and barriers to wider adoption of smart energy solutions.
If you would like to find out more about our work please get in touch using the form below
TEAM & CAPABILITIES
ASSOCIATES
Eigen's team and associates have deep knowledge and experience across clean technologies and building low-carbon technology based businesses. Our associates all have a combination of at least two of the following types of backgrounds and experience: Senior Business & Commercial Management Roles, Technology Commercialisation, SME Business Support, Start-up and Growth Investment.
MANAGEMENT
Eigen's founder Mark Bornhoft has been leading and managing low-carbon business incubation programmes since 2006 including, previously: 2012-16 set-up and co-directed the BEIS Energy Entrepreneurs Fund Incubation Programme, 2006-11 ran a Carbon Trust Entrepreneurs Fast Track; 2003-2006 CEO of a university tech spin-out sold to a VC backed scale-up business; 2003 developed a Business Diagnostic tool for the SET Squared incubator which assessed 8 business dimensions in depth and defined attributes for Commercial Readiness Levels (CRL) matched to the more commonly used definitions for Technology Readiness Levels (TRL).
NETWORK
We have an extensive network across:
UK innovators in smart energy, low-carbon and clean tech solutions
Corporates and industry seeking cleaner low-carbon, resilient and economically sustainable solutions
Early stage seed and VC investors
Providers of innovation and business support services
GET IN TOUCH
Eigen Ventures Ltd
Godalming, Surrey, UK
+44 (0)7949 656703