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Eight global climate tech start-ups shortlisted from 1,500 entries for The Liveability Challenge 2026

The Liveability Challenge 2026 drew over 1,500 submissions across 100 countries, with eight stand-out solutions shortlisted after a rigorous selection process. Image: Eco-Business. Eight high impact start-ups have been shortlisted in The Liveability Challenge (TLC) – a global crowdsourcing platform presented by Temasek Foundation and organised by Eco-Business. Chosen from a record 1,500 submissions across 100 countries, the finalists represent the cutting-edge innovations addressing urgent sustainable development challenges in the urban tropics. These disruptive and technology-driven solutions in the two chosen themes for the year – Decarbonisation and Cool Earth – range from closed-loop systems that reduce buildings’ cooling energy use to advanced textile recycling with significant reductions in energy, water and emissions, and next-generation carbon capture and hydrogen production systems. The 8 finalists for The Liveability Challenge 2026 are: Endo Enterprises (United Kingdom) Closed-loop hydronic additive for the built environment that reduces energy for cooling by up to 15%. FlueVault (Singapore) Low cost, low-purity industrial CO2 capture and storage with critical metal recovery. MacroCycleTechnologies (United States of America) Textile-to-textile polyester recycling technology with 80% lower energy usage, 80% lower CO2 emissions and 99% less water usage, all at price parity. Metha8 (Singapore) Methanol-to-power technology for 24/7 baseload generation with 60% efficiency and integrated CO₂ capture. Power To Hydrogen (United States of America) Low-cost hydrogen production system with five times greater durability, 65% lower capex and a pathway to US$2/kg of hydrogen. SPACECOOL (Japan) Passive radiative cooling that cuts energy use by up to 11% and reduces urban heat island effects. UP Catalyst (Estonia) Utilisation of flue gas to produce battery-grade carbon materials at 26% lower cost than conventional methods. YAMA (France) Electrified carbon capture technology for dilute gas-fired streams, delivering up to 50% lower costs than conventional methods while enabling flexible operation. Two finalists will each receive S$1 million in catalytic grant funding at The Liveability Challenge 2026 Grand Finale, which will be held on 20 May 2026 at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre – a flagship partner event of Ecosperity Week 2026 by Temasek. In addition, A*STAR has committed up to S$2 million annually over the next three years to support TLC, marking the platform’s largest funding injection to date, with […]

Nanbu Relay Center completed

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Environmental & Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd. (MHIEC), a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group, has successfully completed the construction of the Nanbu Relay Center for the Ken’ou-Kennan Clean Authority (comprising the municipalities of Shimabara City, Isahaya City, Unzen City, and Minamishimabara City) in Nagasaki Prefecture. This project is part of the waste transfer facility development and operation contract awarded to MHIEC in 2024. The project involved establishing a new Nanbu Relay Center in Minamishimabara City and managing a total of three relay centers, including the existing Tobu and Seibu Relay Centers. This initiative supports the efficient and stable transportation of combustible waste generated throughout the member municipalities to the second-phase waste treatment facility, the Ken’ou-Kennan Clean Center, newly constructed in Isahaya City and scheduled to commence operations in April 2026. A relay center(1) serves as a critical hub where waste collected by refuse collection vehicles is compressed using compactors and transferred to large transport vehicles for delivery to incineration plants or final disposal sites. At the Nanbu Relay Center, approximately 43 tons of combustible waste per day are compressed and volume-reduced by using a compactor-container system before being transported to the Ken’ou-Kennan Clean Center. The total contract value for construction and operation of the facility amounts to approximately 11.375 billion yen (excluding tax). MHIEC, in joint venture with MHI Group’s Jukan Operation Co., Ltd., has been entrusted with the 20-year operation and management of all three relay centers under a DBO(2) scheme. MHIEC took over the waste treatment plant business in 2008, acquiring MHI’s technological development capabilities in environmental systems and broad-ranging expertise in the construction and operation of waste management facilities both in Japan and overseas. Based on this robust track record, MHIEC is well positioned to propose comprehensive solutions encompassing all aspects from plant […]

Windhoek moves closer to becoming Africa’s next startup hub with Accelerate36 Initiative

Grindstone, the growth engineer co-owned by Knife Capital and Thinkroom, joined ecosystem partners in Windhoek last week in launching a collaborative initiative aimed at strengthening Namibia’s startup ecosystem. This effort seeks to create a pathway for high-growth startups to access public capital markets. The event, held under the banner of Accelerate 36, brought together policymakers, regulators, investors, founders and ecosystem builders to explore how Namibia can unlock economic growth. This will be done by developing a pipeline of scalable startups and enabling their listing on the Development Capital Board (DevX) of the Namibia Securities Exchange (NSX). “We have the influence, brainpower, and energy in this room to ensure that we transform the Namibian capital markets”, said Ben Bertolini, Namibian angel investor, at the opening of the event. Accelerate 36 aims to align stakeholders around a shared ambition: positioning Windhoek as a thriving startup hub whilst expanding Namibia’s investable universe and deepening its capital markets. The initiative proposes a structured pathway that supports startups from validation and growth through to listing and eventual graduation to the NSX main board. Whilst Namibia has strong entrepreneurial talent and a growing innovation ecosystem, relatively few Namibian startups successfully scale into governance-ready companies capable of attracting institutional investment. At the same time, Namibia’s domestic capital markets face a shrinking investable universe, whilst pension funds are required to allocate a portion of their portfolios to alternative investments. This initiative aims to bridge this gap by creating a disciplined system that prepares startups for public markets whilst strengthening governance, transparency and investor confidence. The proposed model focuses on a clear progression: validating promising startups, preparing them for listing on the NSX Development Capital Board, supporting their growth through structured capital raising, and ultimately enabling successful companies to graduate to the NSX Main Board. By building this pathway, […]

Grundfos unveils Intelligent Experience Centre in India: Setting new standard in smart water solutions

An experience and demo hub showcasing the journey of water and Grundfos’ intelligent solutions, to power a more sustainable India Grundfos, one of the world’s leading companies in energy-efficient water solutions, announced the launch of the Grundfos Intelligent Experience Centre (GIEC) in Chennai, India. The Centre marks a major milestone in the company’s commitment to innovation, sustainability, and customer-centric transformation across the entire water ecosystem. Designed as an immersive, state-of-the-art demonstration of technology enabled water solutions, the GIEC brings to life the complete journey of water, from intake and treatment to distribution, industrial processing, cooling, wastewater transfer and reuse. It showcases how Grundfos’ advanced pumps, digital solutions, smart controllers, and monitoring technologies drive efficiency, resilience and measurable sustainability impact across industries, buildings, utilities and homes. A Strategic Experience Hub for India and the Region GIEC is built to serve as a dynamic platform for live demonstrations, application optimisation, customer engagements, solution mapping and industrywide knowledge exchange. By emulating real-world water flows across Industry, Commercial Buildings, Domestic Buildings, and Water Utility, the Centre enables visitors to see firsthand how intelligent solutions translate into reliability, cost efficiency and operational excellence. Visitors can also engage in an immersive experience across a diverse range of applications and needs, with the opportunity to explore and understand the full depth and range of sustainable solutions offered by Grundfos. This empowers them to optimise their energy and water footprint effectively, helping drive smarter, more sustainable operations across sectors. Positioned as a flagship capability centre for India, GIEC will support a wide spectrum of stakeholders, including end-users, OEMs, policymakers, consultants, contractors, facility managers, and sustainability leaders, helping them make informed, future-aligned decisions based on transparent performance insights. “When innovation, sustainable design, and digital management converge, the impact is significant and meaningful. This approach is at the core of Grundfos’ business, […]

Every click has a cost: Singapore’s push to make digital use more sustainable

As AI and cloud use surge, the city-state explores new ways to cut the rising energy footprint of digital services. By Taejun Kang Your smartphone feels clean – no exhaust pipe, no smokestack. Yet streaming an hour of video uses about 0.037 kWh of electricity, equivalent to running a ceiling fan for about three to four hours. When scaled across billions of global searches, streams and artificial intelligence (AI) interactions each day, the energy demand behind routine digital activity is substantial. “The environmental impact of our digital consumption is far more significant than most people realise,” said Dr Lawrence Wee, director of business and ecosystems at Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). As part of IMDA’s BizTech Group, his team focuses on advancing the country’s digital innovation and sustainability across the tech ecosystem. “We are seeing a digital paradox: the very technologies that offer solutions for climate change are simultaneously driving up energy consumption.” Studies over the past several years have placed the Information and Communications Technology (ICT)’s share of global greenhouse gas emissions between 1.8 and 2.8 per cent, with a more recent analysis estimating it at around 3.4 per cent. Data centres – facilities that house servers and keep the internet, cloud services and digital applications running – are among the most energy-intensive components of this ecosystem because they require continuous power and cooling. Singapore is no exception to this trend. The city-state hosts one of the region’s densest clusters of data centres, with about 1.4 gigawatts (GW) of computing capacity from 70 data centres, which power everything from e-payments to food-delivery apps. By regional standards, this capacity is unusually concentrated. Unlike neighbouring countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia or Thailand, where data centres are spread across vast land areas and multiple power grids, Singapore compresses a similar scale of digital infrastructure into just 734 square kilometres, intensifying pressure on electricity supply, land use and […]

SLB awarded integrated development contract for Mutriba Field in Kuwait

Global technology company SLB has been awarded by Kuwait Oil Company, a $1.5 billion, five-year integrated contract for the Mutriba field in Kuwait, including design, development and production management. The work builds on SLB’s subsurface understanding of the Mutriba field to support development planning and execution across deeper, technically demanding reservoir conditions. The contract covers development of high-pressure, high-temperature reservoirs with sour conditions, reflecting an expanded scope and responsibility for SLB as work on the Mutriba field progresses. “This award reflects the strength of our long-standing partnership with Kuwait Oil Company and the trust built over decades of working together,” said Steve Gassen, executive vice president, Geographies, SLB. “As development of the Mutriba field moves into its next stage, we are taking on end-to-end responsibility to support safe, reliable execution in complex reservoir conditions.” The project is designed to support faster development of technically challenging and remote resources, while prioritizing capital efficiency and environmental considerations. It reflects a broader shift toward end-to-end delivery models that reduce execution risk as fields move into more complex phases of development. Key points Kuwait Oil Company awarded SLB a $1.5 billion, five-year integrated development contract for the next stage of development of the Mutriba field in Kuwait, underscoring the scale and significance of the award. SLB will be responsible for the integrated design, development and production of the field. The contract advances work already underway and reflects a deepening of the long-standing partnership between SLB and Kuwait Oil Company as development progresses. The scope covers deeper, technically demanding reservoirs characterized by high pressure, high temperature and sour conditions, marking a more complex phase of field development. About SLB SLB is a global technology company that has driven energy innovation for 100 years. With a global footprint in more than 100 countries and employees representing […]

What does EU and India free trade agreement mean for global trade?

The “mother of all deals”: that’s how European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the new free trade agreement between the European Union and India, announced on Tuesday after about two decades of negotiations. The deal will affect a combined population of 2 billion people across economies representing about a quarter of global GDP. Speaking in New Delhi, von der Leyen characterised the agreement as a “tale of two giants” who “choose partnership, in a true win-win fashion”. So, what have both sides agreed to – and why does it matter so much for global trade? What has been agreed Under this agreement, tariffs on 96.6% of EU goods exported to India will be eliminated or reduced. This will reportedly mean savings of approximately €4 billion (about A$6.8 billion) annually in customs duties on European products. The automotive sector is the big winner. European carmakers – including Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Renault – will see tariffs on their vehicles gradually reduced from the current punitive rate of 110% to as little as 10%. The reduced tariffs will apply to an annual quota of 250,000 vehicles, which is six times larger than the quota the UK received in its deal with India. To protect India’s domestic manufacturers, European cars priced below €15,000 (A$25,500) will face higher tariffs, while electric vehicles get a five-year grace period. European carmakers stand to benefit from the agreement. Matthias Schrader/AP India will almost entirely eliminate tariffs on machinery (which previously faced rates up to 44%), chemicals (22%) and pharmaceuticals (11%). Wine is particularly notable – tariffs are being slashed from 150% to between 20–30% for medium and premium varieties. Spirits face cuts from 150% to 40%. In return, the EU is also opening up its market. It will reduce tariffs on 99.5% of goods imported from India. EU tariffs on Indian marine products […]

Southeast Asia identified as most attractive region for Advanced Manufacturing Investment

Eurogroup Consulting has released a new whitepaper, “Rising Tides in the East: How is Southeast Asia Transforming into the Global Hub of Advanced Manufacturing?”, revealing that Southeast Asia is now the most attractive region in the world for advanced manufacturing investment. As global supply chains diversify and Industry 4.0 technologies accelerate, ASEAN has emerged as a highly competitive destination—surpassing regions such as North America, Europe, and East Asia in cost-efficiency, scalability, and industrial momentum. The whitepaper examines six key ASEAN markets and highlights how government policies, rapid digitalisation, and strong multinational investment are accelerating the region’s transformation into a global manufacturing hub, with key findings including: ASEAN ranks first globally in advanced manufacturing investment attractiveness, supported by competitive labor, robust FDI inflows, and fast-expanding industrial zones. Europe leads slightly in readiness, but Southeast Asia already ranks second worldwide and is rapidly closing the gap due to strong automation and digital transformation efforts. More than US$55 billion in new manufacturing investments from OECD-headquartered companies shifted into ASEAN in 2022–2023, over twice the amount redirected into China, signaling a major restructuring of global supply chains . Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam have emerged as regional leaders for advanced manufacturing, each offering unique capabilities such as high-tech R&D, automation, electronics assembly, and component production. Indonesia and the Philippines are strengthening their long-term competitiveness through workforce development, industrial expansion, and Industry 4.0 adoption. ASEAN’s youthful and growing workforce—with more than two-thirds of its 650 million citizens of working age—provides a major demographic advantage for companies seeking scalable production capacity . A Defining Moment for ASEAN’s Industrial Future As global manufacturing shifts toward sustainability, automation, and digital operations, Southeast Asia is becoming the epicenter of the next industrial revolution. With cost advantages, strong policy support, and a rapidly modernising workforce, ASEAN is now the most […]

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Siemens’ AI powered Nanjing facility named World Economic Forum Global Lighthouse Factory

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has named Siemens’ Nanjing factory in China as a Lighthouse Factory, adding it to the WEF’s Global Lighthouse Network of the most advanced operational sites in the world. Distinguished in the productivity category, the WEF recognised the Nanjing factory for achieving exceptional performance in cost and quality through digital twins and continuous AI-driven transformation. The award highlights improvements in asset utilisation, worker enablement and resource management. The Siemens plant in Nanjing is the fifth Siemens manufacturing site to be named Lighthouse Factory by the WEF, following Amberg, Erlangen and Fürth in Germany, and Chengdu in China. “We call our Nanjing facility a ‘digital-native factory.’ It was designed, tested, and optimised entirely in the virtual world before a single brick was laid. This approach not only enabled us to construct the factory faster and with outstanding cost-efficiency but also to build it under the toughest pandemic conditions. By combining our global manufacturing expertise with local insight and a digital-first mindset, we continuously optimise every part of the operation, making it one of the most efficient and flexible factories in the world,” said Cedrik Neike, Member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and CEO Digital Industries. The WEF jury was convinced by the continuous digital transformation of the production site and the cutting-edge implementation of AI applications. The factory overhauled its production processes in response to mounting operational pressures. The production site was facing increasingly varied customer orders requiring production line reconfiguration every four weeks. Another challenge was that delivery windows had shrunk from 45 days to 10 while market demand was fluctuating. To address these challenges in its high-variety, low-volume manufacturing operations, Siemens implemented a digital excellence strategy, deploying end-to-end digital twins, modular automation, manufacturing operations management systems, and more than 50 artificial intelligence […]

How CTEM, AI, and access control redefine OT security in 2026

By Carlos Buenano, Field CTO for OT, Armis As we step into 2026, AI-driven adversaries, supply chain fragility, and relentless digitisation are forcing Operational Technology (OT) security to mature into a force to be reckoned with. Here’s what 2026 looks like: AI-Powered adversaries demand autonomous defence AI is no longer an abstract threat vector; it’s an operational force multiplier that attackers are leveraging with frightening results. We’re witnessing adversaries use autonomous agents to probe networks, map exposed devices, and launch dynamic exploitation campaigns that run continuously. In 2026, those systems will act autonomously: isolating compromised segments, or enforcing multifactor re-authentication for operators under suspicious conditions. In OT, where minutes can mean millions, automation will be the only meaningful defence. CTEM becomes the operational centre of gravity A few years ago, “CTEM” was just another Gartner acronym. In 2026, it’s the organising principle for any serious OT security program. CTEM represents a shift from periodic vulnerability management to continuous, risk-based exposure assessment and management across hardware, firmware, network paths, and even supply-chain dependencies. But the key difference this year is context. We’re aligning exposures with what actually matters; the physical process, the human safety implications, and the potential operational impact. The cybersecurity landscape in 2026 is clearly set for a strong and necessary integration where vendors leverage the strengths of CTEM to directly inform actionable firewall enforcements, workflows, and reporting. This narrative is driven by the final “Mobilisation” step of the CTEM cycle, which demands that validated, confirmed high-priority exposures leads to an immediate, automated remediation. Specifically for firewalls, this means a CTEM platform will no longer just issue a general alert but will use its deep, risk-based context to trigger a Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) playbook that instantly pushes a micro-segmentation policy or a temporary block rule to […]

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