Net Zero Innovation Hub Awards €22,000 in Prizes, Selects Eight Companies for 2026-2027 Incubation Program

CMBLU was one of the eight finalists who pitched the same morning at Port House in Fredericia. The companies were evaluated and selected by an expert judging panel including Technical Program Manager Bartlomiej Czechowski from Google, Jakob Jul Jensen from Danfoss, Professor Henrik Madsen DTU, and Net Zero Innovation Hub CEO Alberto Ravagni.

The top three companies were recognized on stage with cash prizes sponsored by Google:

1st place (€10,000): CMBLU

2nd place (€7,000): REVERION

3rd place (€5,000): ATOCO

More than 45 companies applied to this year’s Net Zero Start-Up Hub call, representing 19 countries and technologies spanning power, efficiency, cooling, heat reuse, and digital solutions.

The following companies have been selected to join the Net Zero Start-Up Hub’s six-month incubation program, running from January to June 2027:

• ATOCO
• Carbon Clean
• CMBLU Energy
• Ionate
• Loadwise
• Kvasir
• Neg8 Carbon
• Reverion

The Hub's six-month incubation program is built around in-person workshops, one-on-one mentoring, site visits, and direct access to the operators and investors in the Hub's network. Following 1:1 meetings for individual roadmap development, the program kicks off with an in-person session in Fredericia in mid-January and runs through June 2027.

Data centers face a long list of hurdles on the way to net zero, including access to clean power, solutions for heat reuse, especially where district heating is not an option, and systems that aren't yet efficient enough to keep pace with demand.

Many of the technologies this industry needs already exist, often built for other sectors first. The Hub gives these technologies, as well as brand new innovations, access to the tools they need to reach deployment: technical validation, access to operators, and a path to the investors who can scale them.

Quotes

Henrik Hansen, CEO, Danish Data Center Industry: “Denmark has the chance to be a genuine test bed for solving the grid and sustainability challenges we are facing right now when it comes to the buildout of digital infrastructure. The Net Zero Start-Up Hub is proof that we’re willing to walk the talk: putting real, workable solutions in front of the people who can actually put them to use.”

Alberto Ravagni, CEO, Net Zero Innovation Hub for Data Centers: “There is no shortage of good ideas - there's a shortage of pathways to scale them. That's the gap the Net Zero Hub was built to close. By bringing innovators, hyperscalers, operators, integrators, and investors together in one program, we de-risk, accelerate, and guide startups and scale-ups every step of the way - from incubation to gigawatt-scale deployment. This is how we turn promising technology into delivered growth and sustainability.”

Niels Martin Andersen, Senior Public Affairs Manager, Google: "We created the Net Zero Innovation Hub to accelerate the decarbonization of the data center industry - - and the companies involved in the Net Zero Start-Up Hub represent that next frontier in data center innovation. This is exactly the kind of collaboration Google is proud to support, in Fredericia and beyond."

 

About the Net Zero Innovation Hub for Data Centers

The Net Zero Innovation Hub for Data Centers unites leaders across the data center industry to accelerate the deployment of advanced net zero solutions. Backed by APL, Danfoss, Data4, Google, Microsoft, Schneider Electric, and Vertiv, the Hub works to identify, test, and de-risk new technologies for the industry, removing the technical, commercial, regulatory, and financial barriers that slow their path to deployment.

The Net Zero Start-Up Hub is one track within this broader effort: a structured six-month program for a select group of innovative companies invited to join through an annual pitch event. It sits alongside the Hub’s other ways of working with industry and technology partners, including direct member collaboration and pilot and testing initiatives, which remain open to organizations outside the Start-Up Hub process.