ESB's internal incubator programme, X_Potential, allows staff to work like startups to develop their innovative ideas into investable proposition
Many exciting projects have emerged from X_Potential and X_Site, and are currently at different stages of development. Here is a brief selection:
Consumers struggle to know where to start when retrofitting their homes, from choosing contractors to navigating financing and grants. Meanwhile Ireland and ESB have ambitious climate-action targets to meet by 2030.
The Energise team created a one-stop-shop that issues initial quotes on the spot, and then arranges an engineer to scope the project fully, selects the best contractors, manages the grant process, and project-manages the work. The Energise project was integrated into Customer Solutions, leading to the launch of Electric Ireland Superhomes.
Angie Nagle, BladeBridge founder who’s repurposing old wind turbines, has piloted with our 2050 Accelerator partner ESB to launch an e-mobility hub at Europe’s biggest transport research conference TRA. Great to see the ESB eMobility Hub prototype on show in the RDS Dublin, an idea born from our ESB Incubator and scaled during the 2050Accelerator with startup BladeBridge.
City commuters spend hours sitting in their cars in traffic, making up 40% of CO2 emissions, when they could be using quicker, more sustainable modes of transport.
The E-mobility Project team are piloting eBike (electric bike) stations at 14 locations around the periphery of Dublin so commuters can sail by the traffic on that last stretch instead of using cars or public transport. Hub-X launches in summer 2022 and is co-funded by Interreg, a programme to develop and deliver better policy and services across themes such as Smarter Europe, Greener Europe and More Connected Europe.
Repairing underwater cables involves hoisting them up from the seabed onto a boat. This is expensive, can damage the cable, and takes a long time, meaning customers are without power for longer than necessary.
The Habitat team developed a chamber that enables deep-sea divers/engineers to carry out repair and maintenance in situ, underwater. This solution is now being trialled at the Aran Islands.
From an e-mobility idea born out of our ESB Incubator, to launching a multi-hub shared e-mobility platform across 4 counties with top universities and industry giants including Trinity College, ATU, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, and SEAI, its great to see an idea moving from concept to reality with our partners at ESB.
“Dogpatch Labs has been excellent in enabling ESB to tap into the immense talent of the Irish innovation ecosystem, giving us the opportunity to work both with and like startups and understand how we can improve innovation within ESB”
Since 2016, ESB has based their off-site innovation hub, X_Site, at Dogpatch Labs.
Driven by disruption in the energy sector, ESB established its innovation hub and new business incubator in the Dublin Docklands. Here, teams explore ideas in tandem with customers, innovative corporate partners and the wider startup ecosystem with the goal of achieving its Net Zero by 2040 pledge.
X_Site’s flagship programme, X_Potential, allows ESB people to identify solutions to sustainability challenges and bring them to market like a start-up would.
Each year teams work under the guidance of entrepreneurs and mentors for four months, and finally pitch them to ESB’s Innovation Council to earn funding. Ideas should both reduce carbon and be commercially viable.
The X_Potential programme has proven popular among staff, allowing them to work on meaningful challenges that will help ESB achieve its key goals of becoming Net Zero by 2040, and enabling its customers and partners to do so, too. ESB has big ambitions to help Ireland drastically reduce its carbon footprint, including: