Competition launched to find next best green innovator

The FT Climate Change Challenge is being backed by the Financial Times newspaper, Hewlett Packard (HP) and UK-based sustainable development organisation, Forum for the Future.

The competition is looking for the most promising technical ideas that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as social innovation helping individuals become more resilient to the local impacts of climate change.

The winner will receive a £50,000 cheque, sponsored by HP to help develop their product or service and bring it to market.

A key criterion for entry will be a demonstration that an idea has moved off the drawing board and demonstrated its feasibility. However, innovations that have been developed by large companies or which already have major financial support will not be considered.

“We will be showcasing some of the world's best low-carbon innovations,” said Peter Madden, chief executive of Forum for the Future. “We intend to show that there are solutions to climate change and that money can be made from them."

Forum for the Future will review all the entries, which will have to specify how they would use the prize money to develop and extend the product or service.

The 12 most promising ideas will then make it through to a panel of judges, made up of business leaders, such as Sir Richard Branson and Tesco’s Sir Terry Leahy, as well as innovators and climate change experts.

The judges will select five ideas, which can be developed and scaled-up effectively to give the greatest contribution to tackling climate change. In this way, it is hoped a range of projects will get an opportunity to find backers to bring them to market.

FT readers will then vote to select the winner, who will be announced in the spring.

The closing date for applications is January 30th 2009.