August 6, 2024 | Boston & New York

This September, six Swiss climatetech startups will travel to Boston and New York to build connections with their American peers, exchange expertise, and forge a closer bond between the Swiss and US climatetech ecosystems. The startups will undertake this journey as part of Climate Collider, a startup exchange program powered by Swissnex and Innosuisse which aims to build a transatlantic startup community and foster international collaboration in climate innovation.

The startups kick off the exchange on September 16 in Boston, where they will take part in an intensive five-day program, during which they will trade insights and experience with local peers and experts in challenge workshops, feedback sessions, and networking events. During the first week of the program, the startups will also take a one-day excursion to Connecticut to explore the state’s innovation ecosystem. The following week, the startups will travel to New York, where they will take part in the Climate Ring, September 25-27, Switzerland’s marquee presence at Climate Week NYC, the world’s largest festival of climate action, activism, and culture.

The fall 2024 edition of Climate Collider features the following Swiss startups:

• BCHAR is decarbonizing global agriculture supply chains using biochar carbon removal factories. These fully integrated, user-friendly factories use cutting-edge industrial pyrolysis technology to convert agricultural waste into a biochar, a stable solid form of carbon that provides a long-term carbon sink while also enriching agricultural soils.
• Freesuns designs, engineers, and installs beautifully integrated solar roof tiles for residential, commercial and heritage buildings. Their range of integrated solar tiles maximize the photovoltaic cell coverage for any roof, and are particularly useful in scenarios where normal solar panels are not suitable due to size, shape or aesthetic considerations.
• GraphEnergyTech integrates graphene electrodes into solar cells improving power conversion and reliability, and reducing cost. Traditional solar cells use silver electrodes, which account for 10% of manufacturing costs and use over 12% of global silver production. As the solar industry expands to meet the needs of the energy transition, a bottleneck is looming. GraphEnergyTech’s electrodes offer an affordable and reliable solution.
• Inverto Earth is restoring coastal ecosystems with innovative drone planting and robotic biodiversity monitoring solutions. They collaborate with local restoration groups, providing them the technology, tools, and training to scale their impact, and enabling them to precisely and transparently monitor the biodiversity and climate impact of each 3×3 meter unit of nature.
• KIDEMIS is developing a sustainable feed for aquaculture. Traditional aquafeed is made of fishmeal and fish oil from wild-caught fish, putting pressure on global fish stocks. KIDEMIS’s mycelium-based can be grown on a variety of substrates, including agricultural side streams, reducing waste and providing a high-quality, cost effective alternative that reduces aquaculture’s impact on ocean ecosystems.
• 8inks is reimagining electrode manufacturing with multilayer curtain coating for batteries. By layering battery architectures in a single coating line, 8inks’ technology allows battery makers to optimize for performance and cost, while ensuring compatibility with existing infrastructure.