Last Friday, The Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC) announced the Adaptation & Resilience Challenge (also known as CA&R Challenge) as a new addition to the Climate Launchpad competition. The CA&R Challenge which is made possible by the CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution and Climate-KIC (organisers of the global ClimateLaunchpad competition), looks to support start-up teams who meet the ClimateLaunchpad entry criteria and have an Adaptation & Resilience focus i.e., are offering technologies, products, and services that can help reduce the risk of adverse impacts or the adverse impacts of the current and expected future climate on people, nature, or assets.

Ahuma Cabutey Adodoadji, National lead for ClimateLaunchpad Ghana, provided the following pointers as further information on the challenge:

• The aim of the Challenge is to increase the number of Adaptation and Resilience-focused start-ups in Ghana.
• To be eligible to participate in the Challenge, start-up teams generally need to meet the ClimateLaunchpad entry criteria – have an idea or solution that identifies, assesses, and manages over time the physical impacts of climate change.
• The challenge will run alongside the normal ClimateLaunchpad programme, with special attention for Adaptation & Resilience start-ups.
• Teams that qualify will receive extra benefits such as:

1. a further A&R follow-up module
2. an opportunity for the top teams to pitch their business ideas and win prizes in a specific Adaptation & Resilience competition at the Global Grand Final.
3. an opportunity for the top teams to participate in a follow-on accelerator programme to develop their business ideas further and pave the way for them to join more advanced accelerator programmes.
4. an opportunity to showcase their business at the UN Climate Change Summit (COP26) in November.

About the CDC Group

CDC Group is the UK’s development finance institution that works to solve the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation. It is the world’s first impact investor with over 70 years of experience in successfully supporting the sustainable, long-term growth of businesses in Africa and South Asia. CDC’s Climate Change Strategy outlines its commitment and approach towards tackling climate change and supporting countries and communities in a successful and just transition to net-zero and resilient economies. The ClimateLaunchpad Adaptation & Resilience Challenge will help deliver on CDC’s Climate Change Strategy as it concerns its adaptation and resilience objectives.

About ClimateLaunchpad

ClimateLaunchpad is the global green business ideas competition. Its mission is to address the negative impacts of climate change by ways of innovation, invention, and entrepreneurship. A green future demands thousands of innovations challenging the current business models. The competition supports aspiring and promising cleantech entrepreneurs with training, coaching, and networking opportunities. ClimateLaunchpad was established in 2014 and is part of the Entrepreneurship offerings of EIT Climate-KIC.

About EIT Climate-KIC

EIT Climate-KIC is the EU’s climate innovation initiative, working to accelerate the transition to a zero-carbon and resilient world by enabling systems transformation. Headquartered in Amsterdam, it operates from 13 hubs across Europe and is active in 39 countries. EIT Climate-KIC was established in 2010 and is predominately funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.