ClimaCheck is a Swedish cleantech company with a solution to increase energy efficiency worldwide.

The company’s technologies help optimise cooling and refrigeration systems, often leading to energy savings of 10 to 30%. The solutions cater to a variety of industries, from the food and retail to buildings and manufacturing sectors.

With customers in over 20 countries, ClimaCheck has been looking for strategic partnerships in a number of new markets, including in Asia.

In 2016, the company was selected to join the EU Gateway | Business Avenues mission for Green Energy Technologies to Singapore and Malaysia.

Thanks to its participation in the business mission, the company has been able to take some important first steps in Asia.

Since 2016, the company has acquired new distributors in Singapore, and local partners who use the company solutions in Malaysia and the Philippines.

The new partners have invested in portable ClimaCheck Performance Analysers for Energy audits, as well as a number of ClimaCheck online systems for continuous performance monitoring.

In Singapore, ClimaCheck collaborates with local distributor Nexergy, and the Swedish company also has several evaluation partners in the region, including CoolCheck Resources SB in Malaysia, Teale Asia in Singapore, and EconoServ Solutions International Inc. in the Philippines (which are in the process of becoming certified).

We have many interesting ongoing discussions and are optimistic about future growth in the region. The EU Gateway | Business Avenues missions we have participated in have given us a possibility to learn more about the markets and connect directly with key players in a cost-effective way. We have established a wider network than what we could have done without this EU-funded initiative. – Klas Berglöf, CEO, ClimaCheck (Sweden).

Already showing promising results in Asia, the company’s expansion efforts haven’t come without their challenges.

The building sector, in particular, is rather conservative and innovation adoption is rather slow and limited. Establishing a strong presence on a conservative market and becoming accepted by stakeholders can take a long time.

In general, it takes time for us to build local capacity and reach acceptance on any market as we challenge “business as usual”, and competence level in measuring and verification in air conditioning and refrigeration is virtually non-existent. But the pressure is on for the HVACR industry using often more than 50% of the electrical power in the suburban areas and defining the peak loads = grids capacity to deliver the required power. – Klas Berglöf, CEO, ClimaCheck (Sweden).

There are many things to consider when doing business in South East Asia.

European companies have to not only find the right partners, but they also have to learn the intricacies of each market and adapt their solutions to fit the local needs.

In ClimaCheck’s case, educating the markets and introducing new solutions has been of equal importance.

For instance, in the Philippines, the company has worked with the local partner to show which measures could make chillers efficient and what needs to be improved.

Still, these measures have to be put into practice and often the local mechanical contractors need convincing to not block implementation. Consultants without service experience tend to have many initial challenges with resisting contractors.

While this issue is blatant in South East Asia, the challenge is global and it will take companies in the industry more time and the right support to overcome.

Thanks to the EU Gateway | Business Avenues Programme, ClimaCheck has managed to initiate dialogue with influential industry players.

In Singapore, it has already implemented a few projects through the local distributor and partner and is in the talks with major players to put ClimaCheck at the forefront of the local agenda.

The partner in Malaysia is continuously bringing in new projects, including a large project with one of the leading local universities.

Due to the success of its first business mission participation, ClimaCheck applied and was selected for new business missions in South East Asia and South Korea, where it met a new local distributor, Thehaim Eng.

In South East Asia, the company arranged a one-day training for local stakeholders, which proved highly successful. Several participants are now in the process of getting certified partners for ClimaCheck in the region.

The Swedish company’s plans to expand to Asia don’t stop here.

The energy optimisation solutions offered by ClimaCheck show a lot of promise to change the energy landscape also in Asia.

For good reason, the technologies have generated a growing interest in the region, and with help from the EU Gateway | Business Avenues programme, they have managed to get early adopters and local recognition wherever they’re present.

With increasing awareness, the potential market for ClimaCheck is huge with hundreds of thousands of chillers and tens of thousands of supermarkets, that are using much more energy and failing more often than necessary. Investments in ClimaCheck-based optimisation have short ROI and are long-term profitable.

EU Gateway | Business Avenues has more opportunities available for those companies willing to take a leap to Asian markets.

The next EU-funded business mission will take 50 European Green Energy companies to South Korea, applications are already open and close on 18 October 2019.