Climate-KIC

Europe’s leading climate innovation initiative

EIT Climate-KIC is a Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC), working to accelerate the transition to a zero-carbon, climate-resilient society. 

Supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, Climate-KIC identifies and supports innovation that helps society mitigate and adapt to climate change. Climate-KIC believes that a decarbonised, sustainable economy is not only necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change, but presents a wealth of opportunities for business and society.

Convening networks of expertise 

Climate-KIC brings together partners in the worlds of business, academia, and the public and non-profit sectors to create networks of expertise, through which innovative products, services and systems can be developed, brought to market and scaled-up for impact.

Through their convening power, EIT Climate-KIC brings together the most effective groups to create the innovation that can lead to systemic change.

Leveraging grants smartly and effectively

Climate-KIC identifies, sources and places public and private funds that stimulate innovation. They track progress and outcomes and draw out learning and insight so that our funding partners can effectively invest their resources for maximum impact.

By bringing together those with vision, with ideas, with low-carbon products and services, and with finance, Climate-KIC generates the critical mass needed to tackle climate change.

Developing people and capacity

EIT Climate-KIC runs a range of inspirational education programmes across Europe and online, for students, postgraduates and professionals. These programmes develop their participants’ skills and capacities, empowering them with up-to-date knowledge and best practice.

Catalysing innovation

Climate-KIC catalyses and nurtures innovation: from large corporations, research institutes and public bodies, through to start-ups and individual entrepreneurs. They encourage fresh new thinking from beyond the mainstream through initiatives like our 24-hour hackathon Climathon, or their cleantech ideas platform Climate Launchpad.

Climate-KIC’s incubator programme, Accelerator, gives seed funding, structure and assistance to start-ups and SMEs. They drive innovation in established organisations through a range of innovation programmes.

Latest news and articles

The untapped potential of urban resilience innovations

New report, From Informality to Impact: The Untapped Potential of Scaling Urban Resilience Innovation in Informality, is out now!

Investor Forum 2024: Locally driven projects with real-world impact

At Climate Week NYC, a group of innovators pitched their projects to prospective funders and partners. These locally-driven solutions, addressing everything from sustainable agriculture to resilient infrastructure, showcased the power of small-scale initiatives to drive global impact.

Resilient Planet Initiative: Delivering solutions to build resilience to climate change

Join us during Climate Week NYC to discover more about RPI and explore collaboration opportunities for delivering essential climate resilience solutions

Southern African Resilience Academy: Call for transdisciplinary working groups (2025-2027)

The Southern African Resilience Academy (SARA) invites proposals for collaborative working groups to pursue inter- or transdisciplinary research and engagement that synthesize understanding under the guiding theme of “Transformative pathways to Resilient and Sustainable Futures”.

Highlights from the Southern African Resilience Academy’s Knowledge Exchange

Julian van Velden recaps the SARA Knowledge Exchange. Don't miss the chance to be involved in the next iteration. Details will be announced soon!