Cleantech Ecosystem in Palestine

Ovation co-designs and coaches the entrepreneurs who take part in the first edition of the Moustadama program which aims at the creation and fostering of a clean technology ecosystem in Palestine.

Promoting clean technologies and sustainable use of energy in the Palestinian industry sector

The Mediterranean region of Palestine is known for its complex political and geographical situation. The ongoing conflicts between the authorities of Israel and of the Palestinian territories (Gaza Strip, West Bank) over property rights are a prominent and controversial topic in the news.

Nevertheless, if we shift the focus from this conflictual situation to initiatives in Palestine which aim at the sustainable use of energy, there is enormous potential. UNIDO’s Global Clean Technology Innovation Program (GCIP) triggers innovative solutions by creating an enabling environment for renewable energy and energy efficiency in the industrial sector.

The 3-year program “Promoting Energy Sustainable Palestinian Industry — Moustadama” encourages and accompanies around 90 entrepreneurs in the development of innovative and local energy efficiency as well as renewable energy solutions. Three clean technology clusters based in Jerusalem, Gaza Strip and the West Bank have been established for this purpose. Efforts are concentrated on improving energy management and conservation, as well as increasing electricity supply through renewable energy.

The complex challenges faced by industries across Palestine

As briefly mentioned above, the situation of Palestine is complex. Palestinian companies face additional challenges which need to be addressed via re-designed business models. With regards to the strong constraints in the use of energy, there are also new opportunities on the horizon, simplified by the digitisation of data.

Furthermore, the ambitious program of Moustadama involves multiple stakeholders with different perspectives who need to be aligned on a common vision in order to work effectively. It is also important to mobilise human capital as well as alternative revenue sources to achieve financial sustainability in the long run. Therefore, Ovation prepares all of the incubators on a multilevel basis for better capacity building and autonomous organisation. This is not only true for the incubators but also the entrepreneurs who might struggle to find adequate financial support. As their projects mainly represent capital intensive ventures and require the use of hardware, there are certain risks perceived by potential investors. We consequently use specific tools for cleantech and impact assessment to help overcome the stated challenges.

Our approach for cleantech entrepreneurship

In this year’s edition of the Moustadama program, we train the incubators and entrepreneurs following the lean start-up methodology and the principles of agile management. Our intensive programs provide immersive entrepreneurship workshops that mobilise collective intelligence. We favour training local coaches at the same time as the first program takes place, in order to allow an autonomous development of the innovation and entrepreneurship programs to come. Moreover, the integration of women across all parts of the program represents a key priority.

We teach entrepreneurs to put the user of their product/service at the centre of interest to always keep in mind who, and how this person should benefit from their innovation. Our “trial-and-error” approach helps entrepreneurs to continuously look for the adequacy between their offer and market needs. By including the opinions of potential customers from the beginning, our acceleration participants are driven to design their product in conformity to the existing demand.

Beginning of the mission

The first edition of the Moustadama program is launched in June 2021. Before the initial acceleration program takes place, we conduct interviews with stakeholders of different industries from all of the Palestinian territories in order to identify needs and opportunities within the sector. This first step lays the foundation of a Palestinian cleantech ecosystem since we build first contacts to important actors who are potentially interested in energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions.

For the next step, we are looking forward to meeting motivated entrepreneurs and to supporting them turning their ideas into a success.