is a climate-tech festival celebrating the best of climate science and start-ups, organised by the not-for-profit VOYAGERS community. 

THE HEAT will be a hands-on, practical, mind-expanding, friendship-building, exploratory, curiosity-led, science-based, creative, artistic, participatory, decentralised, experimental, edgy, live, risky, urgent and unpredictable gathering of the talented people working on climate technologies. THE HEAT is not a conference. Don’t expect dull panels or crappy coffee. Climate change is too urgent a problem to waste time. Instead, come to make new friends, experience science in action, learn and share your knowledge, inspire and be inspired. Bring your most engaged and curious festival mindset.

It will be a packed day, from 10am to 10pm. As well as speakers (leaders in climate-tech, including authors, founders and investors), THE HEAT will feature a rich day of activities, including inspiring stories, expert workshops, product demonstrations, alt-food tastings, musical performances, art installations, a participant-led “unconference”, tours of the Harwell Science Campus, a startup pitch competition, a film festival, speed networking, an evening party — and much more.

You’ll be in great company: We’ve already registered founders of ambitious climate-tech companies such as Hoxton Farms, Thaleron, Notpla, one.five, Carbo Culture, Regrow Ag, Soil Capital, Olio and Formo; investors from Pale Blue Dot, Creandum, Planet A, Zero Carbon Capital, Hedosophia, Manta Ray, Extantia, Third Derivative, Systemiq Capital, Kompas and Contrarian; journalists from the Financial Times, Bloomberg, WIRED, GQ and Carbon Commentary; ecosystem partners such as Innovate UK, EIT InnoEnergy and the European Innovation Council; company builders such as Carbon 13, Deep Science Ventures, Oxford Science Enterprises and Sting; corporates such as Amazon and HSBC; research organisations such as the UK Atomic Energy Authority and EPFL; and many more.

Agenda outline:

•Product demonstrations: Everything from tasting new alt-protein foods to climate-robotics demonstrations and, why not, real-time carbon capture.  

 •Keynote talks: Compelling stories, shared in 10-minute keynotes, and one-on-one interviews. 

 •An unconference: Participants run sessions that they’ve proposed, including workshops, discussions, talks, science demos, or whatever you’re excited by. This is the “open-source” part of the day, tapping into the knowledge, creativity and thoughtfulness of the crowd. 

•Music, art and performance: All your senses will be stimulated. We’ll have live music performances — from Senegalese drumming to VOYAGERS’ own rock band (want to join the band? tell us here).

 •Startup pitch contest: Ten early-stage companies will pitch; the VOYAGERS Climate-Tech Fund has committed to back at least one. 

 •The “Hot Takes” film festival: Climate-tech short films curated for the festival.

•Workshops: Breakout workshops led by industry leaders. 

 •Speed networking and office hours: Let serendipity bring you valuable connections.

About

THE HEAT is a project of David Rowan, founding UK editor-in-chief of WIRED, and the organiser of 25+ WIRED conferences. David runs the VOYAGERS community, as well as a climate-tech fund built on the community.