Energy Efficiency Hack — rapid prototyping and public pitching
Europe's largest energy-efficiency hack — 200 builders, 20 countries
About
DENEFF — the German Industry Initiative for Energy Efficiency — is Germany's first independent, cross-sector business network for energy efficiency, founded in 2010 and representing over 220 member companies from startups to large corporates. It works at the intersection of market innovation and policy, driving solutions across buildings and industry and shaping EU energy-transition policy.
Challenge
DENEFF had real energy-efficiency expertise across its member network, but it was fragmented and disconnected from the emerging talent among students and startups outside the corporate ecosystem. It needed a high-stakes format that would generate bold, market-ready concepts under real constraints — and bridge established industry with younger founders.
Solution
Built and delivered Europe's largest energy-efficiency hackathon as a 48-hour sprint. Rather than a slide competition, the format combined design thinking and lean startup: rapid problem briefing, mentored prototyping with first-class coaches from design, engineering and business, and public pitching to industry decision-makers — forcing real decisions under time pressure, around specific challenges contributed by DENEFF's member companies.
Outcome
Around 200 students, founders and engineers from 20 countries prototyped energy-efficiency solutions in 48 hours. One winning concept — a doorless, mid-temperature supermarket refrigerator — cut refrigeration energy loss by an estimated 12–30%, the kind of concrete, market-ready idea the format was built to surface.
He didn't run a hackathon — he built a format where the best ideas had to prove themselves in 48 hours.
