College seeks innovative sustainability startups to nominate for Earthshot Prize

Imperial startup and 2022 Earthshot winners Notpla

The search for the winners of The Earthshot Prize 2024 has begun and Imperial is proud to be an Official Nominator.

The Earthshot Prize is a global environmental prize and platform for impact, dedicated to finding and growing solutions that will repair our planet this decade.

As an Official Nominator, Imperial College London is part of a global community invited to submit nominations, selected for our ability to identify the most impactful solutions across all sectors, worldwide.

Imperial will be nominating startup companies whose solutions make the most progress towards achieving the five Earthshots – simple but ambitious goals which if achieved by 2030 will improve life for us all, for generations to come. The Earthshots are:

1. Protect and Restore Nature
2. Clean our Air
3. Revive our Oceans
4. Build a Waste-Free World
5. Fix our Climate

The Earthshot Prize will consider solutions which make tangible progress towards one of the five Earthshots. They should be beyond idea stage, have tested their solution in-field or with target audiences, and are at a ‘tipping point’ for scaling their impact within the next five years. For more information about what The Earthshot Prize looks for in their nominees, read the new 2023 Roadmap.

Imperial’s search for Earthshot innovators

Imperial's nomination panel is looking for startup companies that meet this brief. They can be from Imperial or further afield, for example:

• Imperial spinout companies and other startups founded by Imperial students, alumni, or staff
• Startups that have been part of Imperial entrepreneurship programmes or based on Imperial campuses
• Any other companies – no previous links with Imperial are required

Tell us about your startup

If you have a startup developing inspiring, inclusive and impactful sustainability solutions, please complete and submit the form linked below by 11.59pm on 26 November 2023.

Please also pass this information on to any startups you know that deserve to be recognised.

Complete this form to be considered for nomination by Imperial 

If you have any queries, please email Dr Fabian Lim, Industry Partnerships and Commercialisation Senior Executive.

You can find out more about The Earthshot Prize on its official website. 

The Earthshot Prize

After nominations are submitted by Official Nominators, they are screened as part of a rigorous assessment process culminating in the selection of five winners by Prince William and the Earthshot Prize Council.

The Earthshot Prize awards one million pounds each to the winners, and all 15 will enter The Earthshot Fellowship Programme for a year of dedicated support. Finalists and Winners are given an incredible platform to amplify their work, as well as tailored support from The Earthshot Prize and our network of NGOs, businesses, governments, funders and expert mentors.

In 2022, Imperial alumni startup Notpla won a £1 million Earthshot Prize for its biodegradable seaweed packaging.

Nomination panel

Imperial's nomination panel for The Earthshot Prize 2024 is made up of:

• Alyssa Gilbert – Director of Undaunted and Director of Policy and Translation at the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment
• Dr Fabian Lim – Industry Partnerships and Commercialisation Senior Executive at Imperial Enterprise
• Dr Gbemi Oluleye – Lecturer at the Centre for Environmental Policy