Integration of Climate-KIC Entrepreneurship Program, ClimateLaunchpad within ClimateEngine Project Activities

The Climate Engine project is supported by the Climate-KIC Education team under the EIT HEI Initiative – Cohort 4. As the focus is on developing HEIs to support climate innovation, one of the most exciting initiatives we took this year was to integrate  ClimateLaunchpad, Climate-KIC's flagship climate entrepreneurship programme, run by its entrepreneurship team, directly into the project's activities. 

This is the first time two distinct delivery streams within Climate-KIC: education (under which the HE Initiative sits) and entrepreneurship, have been deliberately aligned within a single programme. The two could have continued to run in parallel; embedding ClimateLaunchpad into Climate Engine instead strengthened Work Package 4 by feeding a pipeline of idea-stage start-ups into the project's exploration and business-support activities, ventures Climate Engine would not have reached on its own. The model is novel and is emerging as an internal success story for cross-team collaboration within Climate-KIC, offering a replicable template for other KICs looking to connect their education and entrepreneurship offers.

Across three bootcamps the programme engaged 28 teams: 11 in Moldova, 10 in Estonia, and 7 in Finland. The training bootcamps were delivered by ClimateLaunchpad global trainer Hira Wajahat Malik, coaching support is ongoing, and national finals will take place in all three countries in August 2026. National winners will progress to the ClimateLaunchpad Global Grand Final in Singapore in October 2026.

How Climate Engine Contributed to this Success

Climate Engine was designed with a bootcamp phase preceding its acceleration activities. Rather than building these bootcamps from scratch, the project used ClimateLaunchpad as a ready-made, higher-profile vehicle to fill that role. EAVA organised and delivered ClimateLaunchpad in Estonia and Finland, and supported the Moldovan team - guiding them on programme implementation, mentor engagement, and bootcamp delivery. ClimateLaunchpad's established reputation and wider network attracted stronger, more diverse applicants than Climate Engine could have drawn independently, making participation more compelling for teams and giving the project access to high-quality early-stage ventures. 

Impact

The integration delivered a pipeline of 28 climate start-ups now moving through capacity-building support. The standout result is the exceptionally high share of women-led ventures: 9 of 10 teams in Estonia (90%), 5 of 7 in Finland, and 8 of 11 in Moldova — 22 of 28 teams overall, nearly four in five. Beyond the numbers, the project achieved a structural outcome that would not otherwise have occurred: genuine alignment between Climate-KIC's education and entrepreneurship streams, demonstrating a workable model for internal collaboration across the wider EIT community.