EIT InnoEnergy, Europe's sustainable energy engine, today redefined Europe's biggest energy challenges to encompass mobility, and the shift to a circular economy.

EIT InnoEnergy, Europe's sustainable energy engine, today redefined Europe's biggest energy challenges to encompass mobility, and the shift to a circular economy.

With transport accounting for around 25% of Europe's carbon emissions, decarbonizing the way we move people and goods is a critical success factor. Further, significant progress can be made by taking a more holistic approach to the full lifecycle of energy including examining interlinks between the resources used, its transportation, conversion, storage and distribution, and how we decommission sites.

To fully address the challenges InnoEnergy has launched two new thematic fields; Energy for circular economy, and Energy for transport and mobility. The fields bring together entrepreneurs, innovators, industry and universities to develop the next big innovations across key themes including smart cities and grids, storage, energy efficiency and renewable technologies.

InnoEnergy is calling for all innovators with proven technology concepts that will transform the future of energy in Europe to apply for its Investment Round, an initiative to reduce time to market for innovative energy solutions. As well as funding, InnoEnergy provides access to a deep pool of skills and resources, and connects companies of all sizes to markets and commercial opportunities across Europe through a network of over 430 industry partners.

Diego Pavia, CEO of InnoEnergy said:
"Our Investment Round initiative supports start-ups that can address some of the most pressing challenges facing our energy system today such as mobility and sustainable lifecycles. Since launching the Round in 2011, InnoEnergy has invested €222 million in 120 projects - resulting in €4 billion of forecasted sales.

"Building on successes such as NorthVolt, EOLOS and Bio-Eco-Matic, we're now looking to hear from the next wave of innovative energy start-ups who we can support to market with a mix of funding, and technical and commercial resources."