European acceleration programs focused on sustainability and climate change in cities: a comparative analysis

Sustainability and climate change are concepts which are getting noticed transversally in sectors such as the entrepreneurial field as it provides disruptive solutions. In fact, there is increasing interest in startups’ creation and acceleration programs. Startups are exposed to a dynamic ecosystem, allowing synergies to emerge at different levels and between public and private entities. This paper aims to analyze the European ecosystem focused on incubator and accelerator programs with a special emphasis on sustainability and climate change. To this end, a database with 80 acceleration programs, which contains different parameters, was designed. The results show a significant high percentage of climate startup accelerators receiving public funding, their uncertain future, the role they play as agents of change, and the impact of cultural differences between countries. Finally, we analyze the particular case of Clean Cities ClimAccelerator.