ecopreneurs4climate.org
1. Why? Challenges & objectives
2. Who & What? Concept
3. International benchmarking
4. Unique value proposition
5. Service catalog
6. How? Structure
7. Business model: revenue, resources,
parameters and diversity
8. Financial plan
9. Crowdfunding campaing
10. When? The Roadmap: 2016 → 2.0
11. Wrap-up: ECO4CLIM's added value
Challenges to be addressed:
1. Climate change: high carbon & ecological footprint of
mainstream economy
2. Socio-economic inequalities: unemployment (youth
& vulnerable groups), unequal wealth distribution,
lack of opportunities
3. Other negative effects of globalization: cultural
heritage loss, forced migrations, urban centralization,
erosion of democracy, conflicts & violence
ECO4CLIM's objectives:
1. Promote, connect & empower climate-champion
ecopreneurs
2. Strengthen local green economy ecosystems
3. Boost sustainable business networks
4. Implement the Paris Agreement via an SME-centered
green & equitable economy
ECO4CLIM we are a "glocal" community of climate practice, which via a global network of climate innovation labs, boosts
creation of cooperative, sustainable, and sound businesses that provide quality green jobs, empower communities, and help
them mitigate/adapt to climate change.
In these labs, local leaders (climate organizers) catalyze multi-stakeholder co-creation, engaging ecopreneurs, civil society
and other key actors in “climathons”, to design solutions to climate-realted challenges faced by cities, communities,
companies, and organizations. The collective-intelligence process continues over an animated and incentivized global
crowdsourcing platform.
The power of the network resides in its capacity to share best practices & models across all labs, and inspire ecopreneurs to
adapt and replicate them locally. Lastly, partnering incubators/accelerators shape & scale up resulting businesses.
Climate Innovation Lab
Global Network
Incubators & accelerators
Ecopreneurs
Eco-activistsST
Ks
Organizer
idea + team
Crowdsourcing platform
Super!
World-classinnovation
• Climate Movement in general: all sorts of NGOs, business is left aside because of mutual mistrust
• 350.org and Climate Reality: empower climate leaders within civil society
• Climate Group and Climate Action: target is large companies and their contribution
• Traditional or sustainable business incubators/accelerators: one dimensional approach; focus on business development not idea
generation; no interaction with civil society
• Sustainability consulting firms: run hackathons for companies and cities, but without an online component or a global network
• Impact Hub network: global network of social innovation spaces & communities; no concrete programs to empower, support, and
promote climate ecopreneurs
• Climate CoLab (MIT): global online climate crowdsourcing platform (idea generation); contest-based with prizes, and global meeting of
winners; no physical multi-stakeholder co-creation; no network of local leaders animating communities of practice
• Climate-KIC and Climate Innovation Centers (CIC): EU-only or “developing” countries-only networks; mostly funded by EC or World Bank
(top-down approach); few local roots; fully business oriented; little to none interacion with civil society; focus fundamentally on business
development not idea generation; “hackathons” but only with their community of students, entrepreneurs and researchers, without
engaging NGOs or other actors; not so much exchange of best practices & models across their hubs
Global network of climate innovation labs, characterized by:
• Structure: distributed network that grows organically, and founded upon local governance and international cooperation
• Goals: identify climate-related challenges and outline green business opportunities to tackle them
• Outcome: business ideas that are cooperative, sustainable, community empowering, climate-proof, and sound + a complementary team
• Focus: business idea generation stage + team formation
• Positioning: intersection between green business world (ecopreneurs) and the climate movement (eco-activists)
• Methodology: multistakeholder co-creation combining offline “climathons” with incentivized global online crowdsourcing
• Local roots: network of climate leaders, animating their local communities and speaking both languages (business and civil society)
• Power of the network: exchange of best practices & models across all labs, and replication by local ecopreneurs
• Participants: civil society organizations, ecopreneurs & SMEs, large companies, public admin. & entities, investors & financial
institutions, media, universities & business schools ...
• Key partners: space & community (Impact Hub...), outreach (media, universities & bus. schools...), business development
(incubators/accelerators, Climate-KIC, CIC ...)
• Business model: diversified reveneu streams ensuring self-sustainability and independence: municipalities, large companies &
organizations, international development funds....
Distributed network Local governance International cooperation
Climate-related challenges Green business opportunities Green business idea + team
Ecopreneurs + Climate Activists Multi-stakeholder co-creation
Climathons + incentivized global online crowdsourcing
Local roots: leaders & communities
Power of the network: exchanges & replication
Key partners: space & community + outreach + business development
Diversified business model: self-sustainability & independence
To deliver the value proposition, labs offer the following services:
1. Climathons: multi-stakeholder co-creation sessions (“hackathons”) aimed at addressing climate-related challenges faced by either
cities/communities (public funds) or companies/organizations (customers). Their duration and methodology can vary, ranging from
simple 2-3 days of intensive work (“startup weekend style”, or “climate-kend”) to several weeks with additional business development.
Participants include ecopreneurs, NGOs, representatives from the public admin., experts, media, advanced students, investors &
financial institutions... The output being a more or less developed green business idea tackling the challange given, and a team of
motivated ecopreneurs willing to implement it. The sessions are then complemented with an incentivized (contest style) global
crowdsourcing process via ECO4CLIM's online platform, where ecopreneurs and members of the whole network contribute with new
ideas, and improve the existing ones. The winners will actually join the team (international talent), all travel expenses covered.
2. Replication of best models across the network: besides climathons, the network's core asset resides in all its successful and high-
impact green SMEs helping communities address climate challenges via effective and sound business solutions. ECO4CLIM's
coordination team will tap into this vast potential and ensure these models are exchanged and replicated in those communities facing
similar challenges. Hence, the service provided by the network comprises the identification of success stories, their matching with
unresolved challenges and local ecopreneurs seeking opportunities, and the soft landing in the host communities for the international
ecopreneurs.
3. Consulting on sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation: all the knowdledge and experience generated both in each lab and the
global network will allow us to form complementary teams of consultants and bid for tenders, grants and calls for funding related to our
fields of expertise, namely eco-entrepreneurship, green economy and climate change broadly speaking; and any combination of those
with specific green sectors where we count with experts on, like energy, agriculture, tourism, water management ...
4. Climate innovation journeys: group trips for companies and organizations, of any size but particularly large, to visit the climate
innovation ecosystem of other cities and communities from the network. Such trips can vary a lot in length and prize depending on the
distance between the two cities; and can be customized as well to meet the group's goals. In general large companies want to see first-
hand the functioning of, and meet and interact with innovative gren SMEs and ecopreneurs; and thus trips comprise onsite visits as well
as workshops. Also, on top of that, sometimes large companies want to have the chance to network and do business with fellow
sustainability leaders (large companies from the host region).
5. Incubation/acceleration: green business ideas are shaped up and developed to a certain extent in the labs, as well as in the
crowdsourcing platform, althoug their main focus is idea generation. The co-creation sessions can therefore include a little bit of business
development (modelling, mentoring), but fundamentally that work is left for partnering incubators and accelerators. In some cases, the
lab can have its own incubator, when there is none in the community; but considering that its business model is a different story.
Local governance + regional coordination + common resources + sharing & exchanging
• A network of non-profits in different regions of the world
• Allows to apply for development funds
• Do you want to set up and run one?
• Coordinated via a second-level organization (association, federation...) Ex: Impact Hub
• An advisory board: renown international, well-connected experts
• Annual gatherings
1. Climathons
2. Replication of best models across the network
3. Consulting on sustainable entrepreneurship & innovation
4. Climate innovation journeys
Streams Customers/funding
Cities/municipalities
Large companies/organizations
Internat. development funds: UN, World Bank, regional dev. banks, EU ... See Devex.com
5. Incubation/acceleration
Local resources (each lab):
• Manager -climate organizer- (.5/1 person): relations with partners & customers, coordination
• Communications (.5/1 person): comm. management, media relations, STK engagement
• Partners: space partner (like Impact Hub), outreach, business development
Common resources (global network):
• Staff: coordination, communications, fundraising (intern. develop. funds), measuring & reporting impact, managing relations with global partners and advisory board
• Online platform: events (meetup.com) + challenge-based crowdsourcing (Ideas4all) + wiki (OSCE Days)
• Global partners: international like-minded organizations (media, sponsors ...)
• Advisory board: renown international, well-connected experts
Streams Beneficiaries
Local lab Space partner Network
1. Climathons 80% 12% 8%
2. Replication of best models across the network
12% 8% 80%
3. Consulting on sustainable entrepreneurship & innovation
10-50% 5-15% 10-50%
4. Climate innovation journeys 40% (host) 10% 40% (guests)
5. Incubation/acceleration 80% 12% 8%
1. Climathons
2. Replication
3. Consulting
4. Climate innovation journeys
Streams Variability factors Price range Viability(# sales/projects per year per lab)
1. Climathons # & magnitude of challenges, duration, incubation/bus. develop...
8 - 100 K $ 2-4
2. Replication of best models across the network similar to climathons + type of “soft landing” & replication (team, cooper., soc. franchise..)
20 - 100 K $ 1-2
3. Consulting on sustainable entrepreneurship & innovation
Large diversity of calls. See Devex.com
3 K - 4 M $ 0-2
4. Climate innovation journeys Duration, # workshops, # companies visited, additional activities, travel expenses ...
.5 - 4 K $ per company
1-2
• Goals: promote the event, build a community, engage partners & customers, find members
for advisory board, raise seed funds, and sell climathons (pre-selling)!
• Rewards/incentives: volunteering for ECO4CLIM16 winners, discounted tickets for 1st
climathon (early 2017), advisory board fee
• Platform: for non-profits, multi-site with personal pages (organizers) → CauseVox.com
• Period: Sept. 20 - Oct. 21. 1 month, right before the event!
• Communication campaign: embeded in ECO4CLIM16 (riding the big wave!)
• More info: campaign draft, instructions to set up personal page, and webinar next week
1. ECO4CLIM16 (Oct 24-30): build a community & ecosystem of partners, engage customers
for 1st climathon (municipality and/or large companies/orgs)
2. Crowdfunding + communication campaign (Sept - Nov): outreach partners, personal
crowdfunding page + videos
3. Close deal for 1st climathon (Oct - Nov)
4. Network development (Oct - March): legal structure (network of non-profits), global
online platform, fundraising (internat. development funds, advisory board and sponsors)
5. Round-the-world trip (Dec - May): co-facilitating the 1st climathon with you, bringing best
practices from all over the network/world, multiplying reach and impact
• Local labs: their main differentiating factor is the multi-stakeholder approach, with strong emphasis on the ecopreneurs/climate
activists interaction. Also, the climate change focus, and the local roots in the community nurtured by the climate organizer.
• Global network & shared resources: local labs by themselves can have “competitors”, being the global network (a “glocal” community
of climate practice) what really creates unique and high-impact value:
• Common vision achieved through a distributed network, founded upon local governance and international cooperation
• Online, incentivized crowdsourcing: adds a new layer of word-class innovation on top of the emerging local business ideas, and
attracts international talent to join and complement the local team of ecopreneurs via attractive and participative contests.
• Multi-purpose platform: events (meetup.com) + challenge-based crowdsourcing (Ideas4all) + wiki (OSCE Days)
• New revenue streams around international cooperation: replication of best models across the network, consulting on sustainable
entrepreneurship and innovation, climate innovation journeys
• Dedicated staff: coordination, communications, fundraising (intern. develop. funds), measuring & reporting impact, managing
relations with global partners and advisory board
• Global partners: international like-minded organizations (media, sponsors ...)
• Advisory board: renown international, well-connected experts
ecopreneurs4climate.org