East Ventures and Temasek Foundation announced the 12 finalists of the Climate Impact Innovations Challenge (CIIC), the largest climate tech innovations platform of the year in Indonesia. The 12 finalists of the challenge consist of teams from each track of CIIC, including Renewable Energy, Food & Agriculture, Mobility, and Ocean. 

Following the program’s launch on 1 March 2023, CIIC closed its registration on 5 June 2023 and received more than 330 applicants. These applicants were carefully reviewed by East Ventures, Temasek Foundation, and other 10 shortlisting committees, which are made up of experts in the field, such as:

• Hernando Wahyono, Special Staff for Economic and Investment Affairs, Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs, Republic of Indonesia
• Tri Hardimasyar, Vice President of Technology Innovation and Corporate Business Incubation of PT PLN (Persero) 
• Andrew Coleman, Senior Manager in Sustainability Strategy Services, Accenture
• Muhammad Reza Abdulmajid, Chief Risk & Sustainability Officer, Sinar Mas Land
• Nathan Alexander, Head of Investments, Telkomsel Mitra Inovasi 
• Angela Tay, Senior Investment Associate, AgFunder 
• Andrew Daniel, Sustainability, GoTo
• Italo Gani, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Impactto
• Jeremy Sim, Director, Mistletoe 
• Stanley Ng, SEA Program Director, New Energy Nexus

“We have received high enthusiasm towards Climate Impact Innovations Challenge, and we are impressed to witness the groundbreaking and creative ideas from these visionary entrepreneurs who are dedicated to tackling the pressing climate challenges of our time. It was a very fruitful yet tough discussion to determine the 12 finalists. As we announce the result, we believe these finalists whose innovative solutions have the potential to impact Indonesia and will eventually transcend to the lasting positive impact on our planet for the current and many generations to come,” said Avina Sugiarto, Partner at East Ventures.

The 12 finalists of the Climate Impact Innovations Challenge 2023 are: 

1. 360energy:  Low-cost hydroelectric microgrids for fish farmers.
2. After Oil: Distributed renewable energy solutions based on circular bioeconomy. 
3. Solano Energy: Asset-light power company offering battery-centric renewable energy solutions.
4. Fotortec: Up-cycles vegetable waste/Side Streams into sustainable protein ingredients.
5. Sampangan: Agri waste processing to convert into biofertilizers and biopesticides.
6. Qarbotech: Biocompatible solution to enhance plant growth and improve crop yields.
7. Baniql: Producing nickel products from industrial metal waste and low-grade nickel ore for battery applications.
8. Blitz: Next-generation 3PL utilizing AI and Electric Vehicles to reduce emissions, improve courier income & livelihood, and increase customer delivery margins.
9. Transisi: Charging-as-a-Service through an integrated electric vehicle charging station management platform.
10. Azura Indonesia: Cost-efficient electric propulsion engine to replace diesel boats in coastal communities.
11. IJO: Empowering seaweed farmers for seaweed-based bio-plastic revolution and a sustainable blue economy.
12. Waste4Change: End-to-end responsible waste management solution.

The 12 finalists will compete in winning a total prize pool of IDR 10 billion and exclusive perks to scale up their business operations and/or pilot their solutions within Indonesia. The teams will go through the mentorship process from July to August 2023 before presenting their ideas at the Grand Finale on 2 September 2023. The Grand Finale of CIIC will be held during the ASEAN Sustainability Forum 2023, a sideline event of the ASEAN-Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) summit 2023, in conjunction with ASEAN Indonesia Summit 2023.