We welcome everyone who is enrolled in undergraduate, masters, MBA or PhD programmes at the time of January 2024 to participate in the CleanTech Challenge 2024.

We do accept ideas that have been developed in collaboration with individuals who are not students (or no longer students). However, each team of 2-5 people that competes in the Challenge must entirely be comprised of students. We allow — and encourage — participants to seek external input into the development of their ideas, as the aim of the competition is to help students further develop and refine their idea

Most business plan competitions focus on the output – often an elaborate document that does not focus on the core risks and challenges faced by a new venture. This competition is different.

To begin with, students have to base their ventures on real technology opportunities and market needs. In addition, students are required to put together ‘teams’ that are explicitly short-term – whose sole objective is to take the opportunity through to the next stage of investment by a process that we call ‘de-risking’. Third, students work with mentors to refine their ideas.

In short – the CleanTech Challenge aims to create sustainable ventures.

The winner(s) of the Dutch CleanTech Challenge will receive price money including a direct (online) ticket to the global finals. All winners from the first round will get:

• • Feedback on their ideas from world class clean technology venture capitalists
  • Certification of your participation in the CleanTech Challenge 2024
  • Introduction to a network of clean technology entrepreneurs, investors and potential partners
  • Mentoring by experienced professionals
  • Access to exclusive seminars

We do accept ideas that have been developed in collaboration with individuals who are not students (or no longer students), but your team that will be competing in the Challenge must entirely be comprised of eligible students. We allow — and encourage — participants to seek external input into the development of their ideas, as the aim of the competition is to help students further develop and refine their idea!

We strongly encourage you to try to create your own ideas, even if they are rough sketch. Do some research and see what is being said about CleanTech – maybe you will find some inspiration.

Option 2 is to find a team that has already formed an idea over here. The kickoff and the speeddating session give you the opportunity to get know possible teammates and interesting ideas you could work with. In the registration form you can tell us wether you have an idea already, are willing to join an existing team or you are looking for some extra team members.

It’s also a good idea to follow our LinkedIn and/or instagram page, so that we can keep you updated on the competition.

The preliminary kick-off and speeddating events are not obligatory and you can register with your team until the 2nd of February. However, we really encourage everyone to attend these events if you are looking for extra team members or want to join an existing team and also to get a good overview of what you can expect from the Challenge.

Make sure you’ve registered yourself before January 17th and your team (if applicable) before February 2nd!

You can register here for the Challenge individually and here with a team. In case your team exists out of multiple people, only one team member has to register the team. This person will become the contact person and will receive all the necessary information about the Challenge from us.  If problems occur during the registration process, shoot us a mail at info@cleantechchallenge.nl!