Ten innovative companies that are revolutionising the energy, transport, and industrial sectors have been named as the 2019 New Energy Pioneers by BloombergNEF (BNEF). The winners are pursuing new opportunities in areas as diverse as EV charging, industrial digitalisation, and innovative manufacturing processes. The 2019 New Energy Pioneers have been unveiled at the BNEF Summit in New York.
BNEF’s New Energy Pioneers recognise ground-breaking companies that are fueling the transition to a lower carbon economy and highlighting new ideas for business models, technologies, market structures and commercial opportunities.
An independent panel of industry experts, assisted by BNEF’s analysts and technology specialists, selected the ten winners from more than 185 applicants from 35 countries around the world. Each candidate was assessed against three criteria: the potential to scale the opportunity and have global impact; the level of innovation of the technology or business model and the novelty it brings to the market; and momentum by showcasing substantive progress in the form of strong commercial partnerships, the distribution channels in place and sales growth.
The 2019 New Energy Pioneers are:
- CarbonCure (Canada) provides a method of utilizing captured CO2 in concrete manufacturing to both improve its structural properties and reduce its environmental impact.
- Desktop Metal (U.S.) manufactures one of the fastest 3D printing systems on the market for the mass production of high-resolution metal parts.
- Metron (France) provides an AI-driven IIoT (industrial internet of things) platform that optimizes energy usage for industrial facilities.
- Navya (France) is the leading developer of low-speed autonomous shuttles.
- Nozomi Networks (U.S.) offers cybersecurity for industrial control systems using machine-learning techniques to detect anomalies.
- Sunfolding (U.S.) has invented new motor-free solar trackers resulting in faster installation of solar panels at lower costs.
- Ubitricity (U.K.) has developed a unique smart electricity cable for EV charging which leads to a much smaller and more affordable charging spot.
- Uptake (U.S.) has developed an AI platform to predict and prevent the breakdown of industrial and energy assets to increase productivity, reliability, efficiency and safety.
- Zero Mass Water (U.S.) sells a HydropanelTM which uses sunlight to generate water out of thin air.
- Zunum Aero (U.S.) is an aerospace company which develops hybrid and fully electric airplanes aimed at short and medium haul flights.
Michael Wilshire, selection committee chair and head of strategy at BloombergNEF, said: “This year we received a record number of high quality candidates for the New Energy Pioneers program, from across the world. We continue to see strong innovation in the use of digital technologies such as AI, IoT and cybersecurity that will make our electricity system and industrial processes more efficient, flexible, clean and secure.
“Three of this year’s winners focus on electrifying transport – with novel forms of charging infrastructure for cars, autonomous shuttles for local transport and electrified planes for short to medium haul routes. Others are finding new ways to produce materials more sustainably and efficiently, ranging from concrete, to water to metal components. And we continue to see innovation to drive down the costs of solar power still further, underpinning continued rapid growth of that sector.
“We are heartened by the initiative, creativity and determination of these Pioneers and by the impact they can have on industries and society. We are, as always, very grateful to our external judges on the selection committee who had the challenge of choosing ten winners from a strong pool of entrants.”