ISONIK wins UK Final of ClimateLaunchpad with its ultrasonic ice prevention tech

Startup empowering reliable wind energy with its ice prevention tech comes in first in UK final of world’s largest green business ideas competition.

Ice build-up on the blades of wind turbines is an issue for 65% of the world’s wind farms, decreasing energy generation by up to 20% and resulting in revenue loss for wind farms globally. ISONIK’s technology can be retrofitted inside the blades and uses ultrasonic soundwaves to prevent ice build-up.

ISONIK enables wind power to work reliably when it's needed most, during peak winter months, and also potentially unlocks new geographies with higher wind potential previously inaccessible due to icing – all whilst saving a significant amount of CO₂ emissions. ISONIK is ten times more energy efficient than competitors and the tech uses no toxic chemicals unlike other ice prevention coatings. Its founding team, who met on Imperial’s MSc Cleantech Innovation, came in first place in the 2025 UK final of ClimateLaunchpad.

Neela Biotech, a startup that’s developing a scalable, carbon-negative aviation fuel from waste using AI and synthetic biology, was awarded second prize. Their process transforms food, agriculture, and seaweed waste into drop-in jet fuel at cost parity with fossil fuel by leveraging existing biogas plant and refinery infrastructure. Third prize went to TeraBora, a team developing an innovative underground drilling robot to enable cheap, non-disruptive installation of ground source heat pump systems to make sustainable heating accessible and affordable.

ClimateLaunchpad, part of Climate KIC, is the world’s largest green business idea competition; Undaunted at Imperial runs the UK stream of the competition with support from Bank of America. The top three teams from the UK final now continue onto the Regional Final, where they will pitch against other European-based teams. The top eight startups from the Regional Finals will then travel to Vienna to attend the ClimateLaunchpad Global Grand Final​, with the chance to win one of three cash prizes. Beyond the competition itself, all participating teams benefit form expert mentoring, coaching, exposure to investors, and networking opportunities that help accelerate their ideas.

What were the judges looking for?

In the UK Final, each team had five minutes to pitch, and five minutes of Q&As, before our expert panel of judges deliberated according to six criteria:

1. Business or market potential​
2. Job creation potential and social impact​
3. Innovation or technology potential​
4. Climate impact potential​
5. Strength of the team
6. Quality of the pitch​

"We were looking for teams that combine innovation with real-world impact. ISONIK stood out because their wind turbine de-icing solution is practical, scalable, and can be deployed today", says Andrew Lowe SVP, Technology Partnership Development at Bank of America, and one of this year’s Launchpad judges. "Climate Launchpad is exactly the platform that turns ideas like this into solutions that matter."

"ISONIK gave a very high-quality presentation, followed by good engagement on questions and answers segment, coming across as strong and professional," says fellow judge, Alyssa Gilbert​, Director of Undaunted and Director of Innovation at Imperial’s Grantham Institute. "And it’s a convincing product, with a very clear business model and value to customers."

Seeing your ideas come into reality

ClimateLaunchpad is a great way to test out early-stage ideas, alongside expert mentorship and honest feedback, as well as tapping into Undaunted’s climate innovation ecosystem. "If you have an idea and you believe in it, take the chance," says Hal Good, co-founder of ISONIK. "Now’s the time, there’s a lot of support out there for people wanting to change the world, so make the most of it."

If you have an idea and you believe in it, take the chance. Now’s the time, there’s a lot of support out there for people wanting to change the world, so make the most of it... It’s nice to see your idea coming into reality! Hal Good Co-founder, ISONIK

He highlights how the competition’s focus on time spent doing customer discovery groundwork has been invaluable for the ISONIK team: "It’s been so informative to conduct customer interviews. You always learn something new, and start to build strong relationships, which helps you believe in what you’re doing. That, and working with the ClimateLaunchpad mentors, has made [ISONIK] seem realistic and achievable. It’s nice to see your idea coming into reality!"

"The tailored coaching from the Imperial team was incredibly valuable, it helped us sharpen our pitch and identify key milestones needed to become investor ready," says Neela Biotech co-founder, Deepanshu Singh. His fellow Neela Biotech co-founder, Friederike Nintzel, agrees: "ClimateLaunchpad was a great experience to meet mentors and fellow founders tackling climate challenges in bold and creative way".

Andy Skipwith, co-founder of TeraBora, emphasises the importance of taking time to craft a compelling story, making your solution and its potential impact meaningful to your audience. It’s a skill his team honed on ClimateLaunchpad, particularly important for founders of DeepTech solutions: "ClimateLaunchpad has been a good reason to focus, summarise and keep practicing the story… we want to launch this business, we want to spin it out, and programmes like this compound credibility – I really feel like we’ve picked up momentum."

The tailored coaching from the Imperial team was incredibly valuable, it helped us sharpen our pitch and identify key milestones needed to become investor ready. Deepanshu Singh Co-founder, Neela Biotech

"It’s an amazing opportunity to meet new people," he continues. "Pretty much every conversation we’ve had has challenged us to think about what we’re doing in another way, or explain it better. We’re a really young team and don’t have much of a budget… having other people around you and getting external validation brightens the whole thing up and makes it much more interesting… [ClimateLaunchpad] is a great source of inspiration and energy."

Applicants to the competition might have the kernel of a great idea, but no solid business plan or experience of how that idea might be translated into a startup. Zixuan Li, co-founder of TeraBora highlights how integral the business mentorship has been: “Over the past few months we’ve received very valuable insights from the coaching sessions, which helped us to really build our business, our market segment, our deal – that support is just massive. And it’s a great opportunity to learn from each other.”

A huge thank you to all involved in making ClimateLaunchpad UK 2025 thrive. Particular thanks to our programme mentors, Janet Murray and Maiko Schaffrath, and UK final judges: Alyssa Gilbert​ (Imperial); Sana Habib​ and Andrew Lowe​ (Bank of America); ​ Poppy  Russell​ (Counteract).​

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Meet this year’s ClimateLaunchpad teams

Ecodetect: An advanced marine science and technology company specialising in the development of end-to-end, AI-enabled, marine life detection systems. Our purpose is to ensure that marine infrastructure projects coexist safely with nature. 

EmberEye: Provides ultra-early wildfire detection, enabling rapid response and effective decision-making from first responders, mitigating the rising risk of wildfires due to climate change. 

ISONIK: Empowering reliable wind energy generation with ice prevention technology. 

Khuluma: We provide an AI-powered platform to that helps non-profit organisations to create hyperlocalised communication on climate action by in African languages. We solve for the science communication gap in climate action across Africa's multiple ethnicities. 

MACCAi: An AI-powered solution designed to address renewable energy challenges in a smart, inclusive, and community-oriented way. 

Neela Biotech: Developing a scalable, carbon-negative aviation fuel from waste using AI and synthetic biology. Our process transforms food, agriculture, and seaweed waste into drop-in jet fuel at cost parity with fossil fuel by leveraging existing biogas plant and refinery infrastructure. 

Seavive: A low-cost, low-maintenance, and scalable tool for seagrass restoration, developing the equipment needed to protect coasts, boost biodiversity, and reduce atmospheric carbon. 

SenTerra: We help farmers monitor soil nitrogen using satellite imagery and machine learning - no costly sensors or slow lab work. Our online platform shows where fertiliser is being overused or wasted, helping cut costs, boost yields, and protect the environment.

SpaceD: A platform designed to create a sustainable solution for the deployment of micro data centres in urban environments.

TeraBora: Developing an innovative underground drilling robot to enable cheap, non-disruptive installation of ground source heat pump systems to make sustainable heating accessible and affordable.

About ClimateLauchpad

ClimateLaunchpad, part of Climate KIC, is the world’s largest green business ideas competition, helping innovators turn climate solutions into successful startups. Undaunted at Imperial runs the UK stream of the competition with support from Bank of America.

About Undaunted

Undaunted - a partnership between Imperial's Grantham Institute and The Royal Institution - is a hub for the UK’s climate innovation community, creating new routes into green entrepreneurship and supporting the acceleration of startups and SMEs tackling climate change.