Through the Clean Growth Innovation Fund, EQUANS is looking to make strategic investments in cleantech start-ups and SMEs. EQUANS’ investment will be matched by funding from Innovate UK to help invested companies accelerate their innovative R&D activity. Companies can apply for £100,000 to £1,000,000 in funding, with 50% of the funding coming from EQUANS as an equity investment, and 50% of the funding coming from a non-dilutive grant from Innovate UK.

As a strategic investor, EQUANS will help its portfolio of invested companies scale by providing capital, and access to expertise and customers.

EQUANS has 74,000 employees, leveraging 200 years of expertise, with annual revenues of &euro;12 billion. EQUANS is present in 17 countries - mostly across Europe, but also with significant interests in North America, Latin America and Australia.
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In the UK &amp; Ireland, EQUANS provides facilities management, energy efficiency and regeneration, together with a wide range of technical services.&nbsp; The scope also includes specialist energy-related capabilities: smart buildings, green mobility, district &amp; embedded energy and decentralised renewables.&nbsp;
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Through its unique combination of capabilities in energy, services and regeneration, EQUANS is well placed as the partner of choice to help businesses and communities in the transition to a net zero future. As a strategic supplier to the UK Government, and with hundreds of customers across the public and private sectors, EQUANS is committed to being a leader in the energy transition by deploying innovative solutions at scale. To support this strategy, EQUANS has partnered with Innovate UK to establish the Clean Growth Innovation Fund; an investment partnership bringing equity and grants to support UK-based start-ups and SMEs that are delivering on the UK&rsquo;s Clean Growth agenda.&nbsp;

Background

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Asset management

Buildings are a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the UK, accounting for 30% of the total gas emitted&sup1;. In large commercial and industrial buildings (with floor area over 1,000m2), up to 80% of operational CO2 emissions arises from energy use associated with heating, cooling and dispatchable energy&sup2;. It is therefore evident that decarbonising the energy consuming assets within buildings and industry e.g. boilers, pumps, fans, compressors, lighting, standby generators etc, through optimised management and control, remains critical to ensure the UK achieves its Net Zero target.&nbsp; As part of this KTN Innovation Exchange (iX) challenge, EQUANS is looking for companies with data-driven asset management solutions that can help tackle this challenge and are interested in securing investment through the Clean Growth Innovation Fund.&nbsp; What does EQUANS mean by data-driven asset management solutions? Across the UK, EQUANS manages a vast number of buildings and associated assets across its clients&rsquo; sites. These include a range of building services systems, such as, lighting, heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), emergency power, building controls, fire safety and a range of industrial systems. As a leader in delivering technical facilities management, EQUANS is looking to supplement its existing in-house capabilities to lead the transformation of asset management through automation, digitisation and decarbonisation. To do so, EQUANS is searching for innovative solutions that enable:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>The development, delivery and monitoring of data-driven asset lifecycle replacement and decarbonisation programmes Reference example: EQUANS has a client with an ageing portfolio of assets and an incomplete asset database. Do you have a product/service/solution that EQUANS could use to identify critical data gaps, simulate site-specific asset replacement opportunities and present recommendations for projects that will enable the reduction of carbon emissions, energy consumption and maintenance costs? </li>
<li>Enhanced operational efficiency through predictive, proactive, and smarter maintenance Reference example: EQUANS is seeking solutions to increase the intelligence of the assets that it manages. By alerting EQUANS to predictable / imminent issues or by remotely diagnosing problems, EQUANS hopes to improve its first-time fix percentage and reduce the carbon impact of sending engineers on multiple site visits. Is your product/service/solution able to demonstrably improve the operational efficiency of facilities and asset management?</li>
</ul>
Process: In order to be considered, companies are asked to submit a pitch deck and to complete a short Expression of Interest questionnaire. As part of your pitch deck, please explain how much funding you require and the activities for which the funding will be used (the &lsquo;project&rsquo;). Please see the &lsquo;Technical Requirements&rsquo; below for the eligibility requirements for the project. Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis up to the deadline. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to pitch their solutions to EQUANS.&nbsp;
&sup1; &lsquo;Final UK greenhouse gas emissions national statistics: 1990 to 2019&rsquo;, BEIS 2021 &sup2;&nbsp;&lsquo;Introducing a Performance-Based Policy Framework in large Commercial and Industrial Buildings in England &amp; Wales&rsquo;, BEIS, March 2021

Challenge

Successful applicants will be invited to pitch to EQUANS for the opportunity to receive funding through the Clean Growth Innovation Fund. EQUANS&rsquo; investment will be made as a minority equity investment to which UKRI will provide match funding (up to a cap) for R&amp;D or Industrial Research to accelerate the development of the solution. EQUANS&rsquo; investment made through the Clean Growth Innovation Fund together with the Innovate UK non-dilutive grant provides funding to support innovation &lsquo;projects&rsquo; that are aligned with the above challenge. As a strategic shareholder, EQUANS would also support the successful SMEs to scale, by providing access to markets, customers, expertise and capital. It is expected that successful applicants will have an existing solution that already partially meets the above brief or is currently used for adjacent/similar purposes. As noted above, 50% of the funding received through the Clean Growth Innovation Funding will be equity investment from EQUANS. As EQUANS will be looking to make a minority investment in your business (circa. 5% &ndash; 25%), the funding request should be appropriate to the size of your business.

Rewards & Benefits

To be eligible for the Clean Growth Innovation Fund you must define a project that you wish to be funded, which aligns with the data-driven asset management solutions challenge.&nbsp; This project must cost between &pound;100,000 and &pound;1,000,000:
<ul>
<li>50% of the funding for successful companies will come from EQUANS as equity investment and 50% of the funding will come from an Innovate UK grant.</li>
</ul>
Example: A company is valued at &pound;2,500,000 and requires &pound;500,000 for its project:
<ul>
<li>&pound;250,000 will come from EQUANS as equity investment (10% shareholding)</li>
<li>&pound;250,000 will come from Innovate UK as a non-dilutive grant</li>
</ul>
The business applying for the competition is required to be aligned with the priorities and challenges set out in this Statement.&nbsp; You should also explain in your pitch deck how you believe a strategic partnership between your company and EQUANS might be beneficial for both the company and EQUANS.&nbsp;

Functional Requirements

The majority (&gt;50%) of the activity to be funded (the project) must meet the UK Government definition of Industrial Research or Feasibility Study as defined in <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/innovate-uk-funding-general-guidance-for-applicants#categories-of-research-and-development" target="_blank" rel="noopener">General Guidance</a>.

Technical Requirements

The solution should be able to integrate with current practices, processes and regulations that are commonplace in the asset management industry.&nbsp;

Operating Conditions

Launch of the Competition: 29th July 2022 Deadline for applications: 9th September 2022 Selection and notification of finalists: 15th September 2022 Date of Pitch day:&nbsp;The in-person pitches will be held in London. Please hold the 29th September 2022 in your diary. KTN will notify all successful applicants with full details.&nbsp;

Deployment Timescale

The project must cost between &pound;100,000 and &pound;1,000,000. Through its investments in aligned companies, EQUANS will act as strategic partner, supporting companies in their development, for example through the provision of domain &amp; market expertise, access to customers and strategic insight.&nbsp; Companies that are interested in support through the fund will need to demonstrate how their solution aligns with EQUANS&rsquo;s strategy and priorities and adds value for EQUANS&rsquo; customers.

Cost Requirement & Market Opportunity

Traditional computer-aided facilities management (CAFM) platforms.

Out of Scope

Entrants to this competition must be:
<ul>
<li>A UK-based micro, small or medium-sized business (SME)</li>
<li>Able to carry out your project work in the UK</li>
<li>Intending to exploit the results through a UK-based company</li>
</ul>
Applications will be assessed on:
<ul>
<li>Relevance to the Challenge topic</li>
<li>Strategic fit with EQUANS&rsquo;s objectives</li>
<li>Innovative nature of the subject</li>
<li>Deliverability</li>
<li>Coherence of the proposed business model</li>
<li>Feasibility / economic viability</li>
<li>Development potential</li>
<li>Opportunity for strategic partnership</li>
<li>Innovate UK eligibility criteria</li>
<li>Maturity of project/solution</li>
<li>Ability to launch project quickly / Ease of implementation</li>
<li>Price/quality ratio</li>
<li>Suitability for the UK and European Market</li>
</ul>

Eligibility & Assessment Criteria

<ul>
<li>Existing background IP associated with a potential solution will remain with Solution Provider(s). Where any new IP generation is envisaged, it will be subject to the mutual IP agreement of the Solution Provider(s) and EQUANS.</li>
<li>Any commercial deployment of transferred solution or newly developed solution, through licensing, joint venture, partnership or direct investment, will be subject to the commercial agreement between the Solution Provider(s) and EQUANS.</li>
<li>Where necessary, a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) may be signed to uphold confidentiality in the engagement between the Solution Provider(s) and EQUANS.</li>
<li>Innovate UK and KTN do not take any share of IP ownership or enter into commercial venture through the iX programme.</li>
</ul>

Innovative approaches to data-driven asset management solutions

Opportunity

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Benefit

Background

This challenge is brought to you by:

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Opportunity

Challenge opens

Challenge closes

Benefit

Background

This challenge is brought to you by:

Innovative approaches to data-driven asset management solutions