Timeline

Start-ups and scale-ups can sign up to participate in the New Energy Challenge. Following this, we will carefully review the submissions and select those that meet the criteria.

After the registration period ends, we'll review and select qualifying submissions.

On this day, the best entries are selected based on the quality and potential of their business model, innovative technologies and digital solutions. The twenty best entries are the participants of the New Energy Challenge.

All selected participants are invited for deep-dive interviews. The interviews are conducted by Rockstart, Shell and YES!Delft experts in November to select the ten finalists.

The ten finalists are announced and invited for the finals phase, taking place February and March 2027.

The Finals Phase starts with kick-off meetings on January 23. All finalists will be invited as this will be the official welcome to the New Energy Challenge Finals programme.

An extensive network of experts will coach the finalists to validate their collaboration proposal, find their product-market fit and prepare to pitch for an expert jury early April. The coaching and expert sessions are provided by Rockstart, YES!Delft and Shell and take place in February and March.

The finals event takes place in Bilbao at Energy Tech Summit. During the week before the event the finalists will pitch in front of a jury of experts and senior managers. At Energy Tech Summit they will also pitch to other finalists and a wider Energy Tech Summit audience. The finals event offers lots of networking opportunities. The winners are announced during Energy Tech Summit!