Energy Innovation Agency’s Daniel Dickinson shortlisted for Made in Manchester’s Sustainability Champion of the Year

Daniel Dickinson, Business Development Lead at the Energy Innovation Agency, was recently shortlisted for the Sustainability Champion of the Year award at the Made in Manchester Awards.

The annual awards celebrate the brightest and best of Manchester’s young business talent and we are proud that Dan was recognised for the fantastic work he has done with the Agency in just a little under a year since the official launch in April 2022.

The Energy Innovation Agency was established to support Greater Manchester’s net zero carbon by 2038 ambitions by helping scale-up businesses with great low carbon or carbon neutral energy innovations to commercialise their products or services more quickly, easily and cost-effectively.

Dan was the first full-time employee within the Agency and as a unique organisation has played a critical role in designing a service that enables innovators to overcome barriers in their commercialisation journey.

Dan had this to say on the award nomination; “It was great to be able to represent the Agency at the MiMA awards last week, and a fantastic event. The collaborative atmosphere was evident across the categories and is something I believe is a standout feature of the Greater Manchester business community”

The Energy Innovation Agency combines the resources, expertise and services of partners from the public sector, corporations and universities to support innovators to achieve more rapid deployment; from commercialisation road mapping, R&D and business development support to pilot site testing, sales and deployment support, for scalable real-world exposure, creating a dedicated route to market.

By leveraging the Agency’s partner resources to match innovations to GM end-users facing energy challenges, we help innovators to navigate the early part of the journey to enhance their chances of success and their ability to capitalise on the market opportunities available.

Already, the Energy Innovation Agency is supporting more than 15 businesses in their journey to market, here are just some of the highlights so far.

• In response to the current energy crisis, the Energy Innovation Agency has supported a number of innovators with solutions that could help abate energy costs for vulnerable households and businesses, including insulation, boiler retrofits, more efficient renewable and electric heating systems, and AI-controlled energy management software for heating, air conditioning and ventilation. We are working with the social housing sector and exploring funding options to get these solutions installed where they are most needed, working with university partners to ensure the technologies perform as expected.
• We’re supporting a business seeking suitable deployment sites along busy highways for its small wind turbines looking for deployment sites along busy highways. We are helping to identify suitable roads throughout Greater Manchester and have approached the Local Authorities to explain the opportunity, technology and benefits of generating clean, renewable energy locally.
• We have introduced an innovator to a large building commercial landlord who is currently trialling a smart socket-based energy monitoring and management solution in Greater Manchester.
• The Agency regularly exhibits at events in order to meet innovators and spread awareness of the opportunities in Greater Manchester; recently at the GM Convention of the North and the launch of GC’s new Green Skills Academy.
• Following our successful Meet the Buyer event at the end of 2022, when a group of our innovators pitched to an audience of public sector buildings buyers, we arranged a follow-up 1-2-1 meeting with a large public sector organisation to enable more detailed discussions to take place regarding the potential to supply green technology to help the organisation reduce the amount of energy used. 

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