The judging criteria are very simple. Your application will be considered if it:
Will lead to greenhouse gas emissions reductions
You will be asked to provide evidence of any reports or expert assessments/calculations you have undertaken to demonstrate this. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride and the HFC and PFC groups of fluorinated gases. All of these gases have different global warming potentials and can be converted into an equivalent quantity of carbon dioxide (for example, methane has 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, so 1 tonne of methane emitted is equivalent to 21 tonnes of carbon dioxide). For this reason “carbon emissions” is used as a shorthand way of describing all greenhouse gas emissions in carbon equivalent terms.
There are numerous sources of information on carbon emissions factors arising from fossil fuels consumed for transport and energy, as well as from industrial processes. For example, the Defra website contains links to several documents with carbon emissions factors from UK energy use. The important thing is that you are able to substantiate the additional carbon emissions reduction that will result from your successful idea.
Is commercially viable
A good business plan is essential. You will be asked for evidence of sound financial planning and market understanding. It is important to demonstrate that you have thought about the route(s) to market and have a realistic development strategy. The people involved need to be committed and have the skills to see it through. The Springboard award is intended to provide a financial “boost” to help bring your idea closer to commercial success, and not just to cover operating costs. That is, the impact of Springboard on your idea should be material, and the link between receiving an award and making progress towards commercial viability should be clearly stated.
Is innovative
It does not have to be a technical discovery but your idea should have the potential to break new ground. It could be a new way of bringing an established technology to market, for example, or it could be a new service that will lead to reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Have a look at some of the case studies on Winning Ideas to get a feel for some other successful businesses with an innovative idea.
The assessment of applications is carried out by Camco, who are contracted by Shell to deliver the Shell Springboard programme. Camco is a specialist climate change and sustainable energy consultancy company with a 20 year track record in low carbon technologies and businesses. The application assessment process comprises three stages:
1. Initial review of on-line applications:
All submitted applications are read in full after the November deadline and assessed on whether they meet the three Springboard criteria; that is, that the proposed project: (a) will lead to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions; (b) shows the potential to be commercially viable; and (c) demonstrates one or more innovative aspects.
Only applications which meet all of these criteria (ie, which describe business ideas that are carbon saving, commercially viable and innovative) will proceed past this stage. Therefore your application must clearly bring out each of these three aspects of your project proposal if it is to go past this stage.
One of the Springboard rules is that no further information on the proposal will be requested from the applicant, over and above what is provided within the submitted application. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the information contained in their submitted application demonstrates how it meets all of the three competition criteria.
This initial review filters out all applications which fail to meet one or more of the three Springboard criteria. The resulting longlist goes forward to the second stage.
2. Detailed review of long list of applications:
The remaining applications are then subjected to a more detailed review, aimed at gaining an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses against the three competition criteria.
Carbon saving calculations are checked and analysed in terms of accuracy, additionality (ie, would they have happened anyway) and the degree to which such carbon savings might provide a direct commercial benefit (i.e. through the realisation of carbon credits, for example). Commercial viability is assessed according to the applicant’s understanding of the potential market(s) for their idea, the quality/credibility of their team (including an understanding of the gaps in the team), and whether they are ‘ready to go’ to make positive use of the Springboard award money.
Finally, innovative aspects are assessed by comparison with existing technologies or other technologies in development, and evidence of any patents or other intellectual property claimed by the applicant that might give them unique proprietary rights to exploit of the idea. An innovative product or technology that is not owned by the applicant, but simply licensed from a third party would not normally count as innovative, unless the applicant can demonstrate that they are uniquely placed to bring this licensed product/technology to the UK market.
This second stage review results in the scoring of each of the long-listed applications according to each of the three competition criteria. The three criteria scores are totalled to produce an aggregate score for each long-listed application.
3. Preparation of finalist lists:
The third and final stage of the application assessment process is to draw up the shortlists for each of the three finals. Each year there are between 6 and 8 finalists at each event. The finalists are selected on the basis of their score from the second stage of the application process.
The shortlisted finalists are then invited to an appropriate judging event for face-to-face presentations to independent judges, and specific questioning about their proposals, as described on the Application Process page. Further guidance on how best to prepare for the judging events, and the practical details for each event, will be sent to finalists after the regional shortlists have been completed and finalists notified.