Six innovation projects that use data and AI to make environmental monitoring and investment easier have won grants from Innovate UK totalling £2 million.
The grants, which range from £250,000 and £500,000, are part of the IFB Programme.
Joanne Chamberlain, Innovation Theme Leader for the Programme said:
“We are very much looking forward to integrating the new Innovate UK projects into the Flagships and Themes of the IFB programme. As a programme we will be looking to connect the funded organisations to our IFB researchers and learn from their experience as they deliver their projects over the next nine months."
The winning projects are:
- Ocean Ledger: Geospatial software applied to coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves, tidal marshes, and seagrass meadows. The software measures and forecasts coastal risk and provides actionable insights for investors and organisations to actively mitigate through targeted conservation and restoration, align with market mechanisms, and monitor, report and verify impact.
- Tierra Foods & the University of Huddersfield: A Machine Learning-optimised project development platform for asset-management and food multinationals that leverages a novel monitoring, reporting, and verification methodology to quantify inorganic carbon sequestration from natural oxalate inputs in soils.
- Auquan & University College London: An AI-driven tool designed to derisk nature investments using geospatial data to measure and model nature-positive investment risks.
- Caledonian Climate Partners & New Gradient: A tech-enabled project integrity tool designed to catalyse investment into peatlands, one of nature’s most important carbon sinks.
- City Science Corporation & Caerphilly County Borough Council: A geospatial land assessment tool to remove barriers preventing investment in natural capital by making sure it is considered at the local planning stages, which should reduce valuable habitat, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration losses resulting from housebuilding and construction projects.
- Zulu Ecosystems & Severn Trent: A data-driven System Operator approach for planning and delivering nature-based solutions to enhance water resilience across entire water catchments.
Catherine Makin, Innovation Lead for Green Finance at Innovate UK, said:
“Nature positive investing is not a new idea, but, as a market, it is still in its infancy. It therefore comes with significant risk, which impacts investor confidence. For us to harness finance that protects, restores and benefits nature, we need to reduce that risk, build confidence and demonstrate the potential for returns so that we see more investments, sooner. Data is a crucial part of that picture, as it can support investment decisions by helping to build confidence that the finance is achieving desired and expected outcomes.
“These grants, totalling £2 million, along with support and networking opportunities directly from Innovate UK and its partners, will enable the development, acceleration and commercialisation of some really innovative ideas designed to help the private finance community confidently invest in nature positive projects. We’re excited to see what these projects deliver and look forward to supporting them to reach their full potential.”
The projects will start in September this year and will be completed by 31 May 2025. In September 2025, the projects will be showcased to private investors at Innovate UK’s Nature Finance Showcase for Climate Tech Investing. For more information about Innovate UK’s work to integrate finance and biodiversity for a nature positive future, click here.