06.07.2022

EnergyChallenge Chile / Energy Challenge Germany

Energy Challenge Chile

3 Chilean startups selected to close energy transition gaps in Germany

As part of the acceleration programme, the Chilean startups will present their innovations on the German market in September.

The Demo Day of the "Energy Challenge Chile: Chilean Startups for the Energy Transition in Germany", an acceleration programme aimed at national startups with the potential to make an impact on the German energy transition, was held on 28 June. After an exhaustive pre-selection process, the finalist companies presented themselves to a jury of experts and more than 90,000 viewers connected via streaming.

The three winners, Dhemax, Ecometric and Splight, will be invited to Germany to explore business alliances and meet potential partners in meetings with companies, applied research centres, innovation clusters and accelerators, and exchange experiences with the local startup ecosystem during the month of September. One of the highlights will be their participation and presentation at Bits & Pretzels, Europe's leading entrepreneurship festival that takes place in Munich during Oktoberfest.

With our partners ACVC, Chrysalis, the Ciencia2030 programme of the Universidad de Concepción, Endeavor, Engie Factory, Imagine, KNOWHUB, Magical OpenBeauchef, ProChile, Start-Up Chile, IncubatecUFRO, UDD Ventures and the World Energy Council, the competition was organised by the German Chamber (AHK Chile) and the Representation of the Federal State of Bayern for South America in conjunction with the open innovation programme Expande of Fundación Chile. The GIZ in Chile is the implementing organisation of Energy Partnership Chile-Alemania, within the framework of which the initiative is being developed.

Germany has 25 such partnerships around the world, as Michael Schmidt from the GIZ in Chile explained during the broadcast of the event, noting that "an event like today's is very important to implement our work in terms of Chilean startups that could also have an impact in Germany. In times of crisis, innovative spirit, innovative solutions and a culture of change are needed."

An energising Demo Day

Frank Dinter, Executive Director of Fraunhofer Chile Research; Andreas Eisfelder, Head of New Energy Business Latin America at Siemens; Daniela Rapetti, General Manager of Bosch Chile and Commercial Manager of Bosch Service Solutions Latin America; Felipe Guerrero, Industrial Sales Manager at Bosch; Johannes Dietsche, General Manager of TriTec Holding SpA; Christian Jorg, Managing Partner of the German Accelerator; and Angel Caviedes representing the Chilean Ministry of Energy, were the members of the jury on this occasion. After their deliberation following a round of dynamic presentations of the finalist startups, the three winning companies were announced:

Located in the Valparaiso region, Dhemax has been deeply focused on IoT since its inception in 2005 and is a national pioneer in electromobility, a field in which it has been working since 2008. With its expertise in energy and fleet management, it accomplishes a high level of internal research and development, developing from scratch complex systems to manage critical operations, such as integrated charging and fleet management and systems aimed at public transport or other highly demanded electric fleets.

Ecometric is a Concepción-based startup that provides information to make the best operational decisions for the care of people and their environment, using IoT and AI in user-friendly software. In the energy sector, such as the global wind farm market, continuous online reporting of environmental variables, such as noise and shadow flicker effect, allows for a better transition to renewable energy while taking into account and mitigating impacts on surrounding communities.

Splight is a company that creates “Artificial Energy”; energy that would not have been generated were it not for the application of digital solutions to existing electricity infrastructure. Operating on a powerful and transparent proprietary digital platform, its production harnesses unused grid capacity to generate energy by combining big data capture and processing with cutting-edge technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, blockchain and cloud computing. Reduce operation and maintenance costs, directly contributing to the decarbonisation of the energy industry.

"Generating this type of event helps us to promote the visibility of all these technological solutions that reside in startups in order to connect them with the demands and major challenges of the energy transition", said Ricardo Morgado, Director of Strategy and Development of Expande, a public-private open innovation programme of Fundación Chile, at the end of the Demo Day.

And Vice Versa?

ARI Motors, Breeze Technologies and Ecoligo, three German start-ups that won the "Energy Challenge Germany" last March, visited Chile in June. Among other things, the companies had the opportunity to present their solutions at Exponor 2022, where Germany was the guest country. "We were able to achieve our goal of assessing the business potential in a very short time, not only through observation, but also through intensive technical dialogues on site with decision-makers and market players. The trip to Exponor in Antofagasta, in addition to the opportunity to exhibit ourselves, also gave rise to many new insights, which we were able to incorporate immediately in subsequent conversations," concludes Thomas Kuwatsch, CFO of ARI Motors, a company that is looking to produce and manufacture its electric vehicles in Chile in order to scale up from here to the regional market.