Innovator Stories: The Net Zero Innovation Portfolio
NZIP Acceleration Support
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) is a £1 billion fund designed to accelerate the commercialisation of low carbon technologies, systems and business models in power, buildings, and industry. This website has been developed by the Carbon Trust on behalf of the UK government’s Department for Energy Security & Net Zero. The aim is to provide updates and insights from across the portfolio of ventures supported via NZIP Acceleration Support. Acceleration support provides expert help to NZIP funded companies, to help them commercialise their innovative technologies.
Further details of the programmes supported under NZIP can be found on the gov.uk website
Bramble: Low cost printed circuit board fuel cells
Eigen provided expert mentoring over a two year period and scoped and co-ordinated specific help in market segmentation and route to market, determining priority use cases and then market sizing and route to market options.
LiNa Energy: Sodium metal chloride batteries
Eigen provided long term mentoring and coaching and coordinated support in segmenting their market, identifying early adopter customers and modelling embedded carbon in their innovative battery product.
“LiNa greatly benefited from NZIP Accelerator support and I have no hesitation recommending it to any small business starting out with an innovation to commercialise. Our Acceleration Manager was supportive and understood the needs of the business very quickly. We valued his consultations, and recommendations he made which have really helped LiNa advance the commercialisaton of our technology.” ”
Low Carbon Materials: Carbon negative lightweight aggregate for concrete.
Eigen co-ordinated support to LCM across market intelligence, Recruitment and HR, and cost modelling which fed into the business plan which underpinned fundraising. Furthermore, Eigen delivered Leadership and Team Coaching to help align team performance and ways of working to ensure a high-performing team.
Levistor: Mechanical energy storage technology
Eigen delivered and co-ordinated support in multiple areas including team dynamics and alignment, a regulatory review to tighten and evidence the safety case for Levistor technology, exploring opportunities within tram networks, and progressing investor readiness ahead of fundraising. The team have subsequently secured investment and a partnership with National Highways.
“Support from Eigen Ventures has been excellent. Our Acceleration Manager was very knowledgeable, had lots of very useful contacts and has introduced us to some valuable partners. Generally the support has exceeded expectations.”
Catagen: Low carbon fuels
Over a 2-year period Eigen helped this hydrogen technology SME broaden its market focus to include Sustainable Aviation Fuel rather than just e-Gasoline/e-Diesel. Business development support enabled valuable introductions to DAC companies, one of which became a project partner. Further partners were identified in the cement and zero-emission bus sectors. Eigen also evaluated the market for a novel hydrogen compressor developed by the SME. This package of support led to commercialisation of its hydrogen compressor and a partnership with an oil major and an airline to develop a decentralised SAF business.
SeaGrown: Cultivating a seaweed industry for the UK
Eigen supported Seagrown through a combination of workshop support (investment readiness, business model analysis) and co-ordination of expert support in manufacturing scale-up and carbon impact assessment. Seagrown was nominated for an Earthshot prize.
“Eigen Ventures provided SeaGrown with invaluable, tailored support that helped shape our commercial strategy. Through Eigen Ventures we were able to access support from experts – ranging from a specific ‘design for manufacture’ work package through to business development workshops. Their input helped SeaGrown strengthen its business model, build investor readiness, and move confidently towards scale.”