Deadline: 1-Apr-22
Applications are now open for 2022 The Liveability Challenge (TLC) for innovative solutions to combat urban challenges of the 21st century!
The Liveability Challenge will be accepting disruptive, game-changing solutions that will help cities accelerate decarbonisation, meet increasing demand for food, and conserve the planet’s natural ecosystems.
Finalists will get an exclusive opportunity to pitch their game-changing solutions at The LiveabilityChallenge Grand Finale to a team of Asia’s most sought-after investors! The top solutions will not only be able to deliver measurable impact for society and planet, but also provide a rare—and profitable—business opportunity.
Themes
The three themes for this year’s challenge are:
- Decarbonisation: The current rate of reduction of carbon emissions is insufficient to meet the climate goals. To accelerate the transition to a net zero future, there is an urgent need for breakthrough innovations in the drastic reduction or removal of carbon emissions from the atmosphere.
- Food & Agritechnology: The world’s population is projected to increase to10 billion by 2050, with demand for food predicted to spike by 56%. One third of the world’s food is wasted each year, and the sector is responsible for between 21% to 37% of human-induced carbon emissions. Meanwhile, obesity or undernutrition affect over 2.3 billion people in the world today and Covid-19 has also highlighted the possible transmission of pathogens through food.
- Nature-based Solutions: Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are almost 50% higher than when the industrial age began. Amid the global urgency to decarbonize the economies, nature-based solutions (NBS) have emerged as a key pathway to achieve climate goals. According to The Nature Conservancy, NBS can provide up to 37% of the emissions reductions needed by 2030 to keep global warming under 2°C. Beyond acting as carbon sinks, nature-based solutions also provide other benefits such as improving air quality, protecting biodiversity and providing livelihoods for local communities.
Benefits
Finalists stand a chance to win the grand prize of up to S$1 million in grant funding for project development, among other opportunities!
Eligibility Criteria
- 18 years or older.
- Not an employee of Temasek Foundation or Eco-Business
- Not a close relative or connected otherwise with the organisation or the judging of the competition
- The competition is open to Singapore-based and international participants aged 18 years or over, except employees of Temasek Foundation and Eco-Business, and close relatives and anyone otherwise connected with the organisation and judging of the competition.
Criteria
- Decarbonisation – Submitted solutions should:
- Significantly reduce the carbon emissions produced by industries; or effectively capture, and convert carbon emissions into useful products such as food protein, building materials, reclamation sand or synthetic fuels
- Be technology-based solutions (e.g. physical, chemical)
- Conduct the pilot in Singapore and integrate into its existing infrastructure
- Be carbon negative in the overall lifecycle and have zero/minimal externalities
- Be scalable and commercially viable
- Food & Agritechnology – Submitted solutions should:
- Produce novel foods with improved nutritional quality without compromise on taste and texture
- Deliver breakthroughs in food production over current methods of production
- Minimise resource requirements for production and waste outputs (e.g.through circularity of materials)
- Enhance food safety and quality
- Be commercially viable and scalable in a dense urban environment
- Nature-based Solutions – Submitted solutions should:
- Create value from the conservation or restoration of natural ecosystems in Southeast Asia (e.g. peatland, seagrasses, mangroves) through business models; or improve measurement, reporting, and verification of environmental, social, and economic impacts of NBS (e.g. carbon sequestration, co-benefits)
- Have a pilot in Southeast Asia
- Improve the livelihoods of local communities
- Secure the support of local government stakeholders
- Be scalable and commercially viable (including establishing off-takers for crops/products of smallholder farming communities)
For more information, visit https://www.theliveabilitychallenge.org/