TTI Sustainable Cities & Real Estate Awards

Winner: CitizenLab

**AREYLight**
Turkey
Seed
AI-based autonomous city lights control for better electricity usage

**Avrio**
Poland
Seed
Facility operating system to collect and act on commercial buildings data

**Breeze Technologies**
Germany
Series A
Air quality sensors, data and analytics

**CitizenLab**
Belgium
Series A
E-democracy platform for local governments to enhance citizen engagement

**Droople**
Switzerland
Series A
Sustainable water management connecting off-radar water assets

**SensorFlow**
Singapore
Series B
Smart wireless IoT to monitor and analyse hotels' energy consumption

**SunCrafter**
Germany
Seed
Decentralized charging networks for infrastructure and e-mobility charging

Meet TerraScale

“Creating solutions that leverage climate positive infrastructure”

The main sponsor of the TTI Global Impact Awards is in full alignment with the kind of world we want to enable.

Meet TerraScale and their CEO Danny Hayes, who tells us more about TerraScale’s vision, how they turned obstacles into opportunities and some of his key lessons from the pandemic.

Reinventing the future of digital infrastructure

Danny, tell us about the genesis of TerraScale. What made you decide to build this business?

While we were attending the World Economic Forum in 2019, Philip Eggen, Soheila Yalpani, and I saw the outrage of the protestors protesting for action in climate change plans through our own eyes. We decided to build a company based on creating solutions that involve leveraging climate positive infrastructure, Through our planning, designing, and building of critical infrastructure leveraging on-site renewable energy to create a greener planet and change the world of digital infrastructure for the better.

Bringing green projects to global communities

In just a couple of years, TerraScale has achieved a lot already. What’s your long-term vision for the company?

Our long-term vision is to be a catalyst developer that helps bring green projects to communities around the world, boosting economic value through the development of climate-positive critical physical/digital infrastructure.

What's an example of a challenge you encountered in growing TerraScale so rapidly, but which turned out to be an advantage instead?

The biggest challenge was Covid! However, it allowed us to innovate and expand TerraScale through virtual means. This included talking to banks and corporations in a non-personal manner. It actually helped us to build faster and way more effectively.

Proving TerraScale’s model despite unparalleled circumstances

What are your personal highlights and lowlights from the pandemic, along with any key lessons?

Lowlights: starting a company one month before the pandemic was not easy!

What we learned was a more advanced ability to communicate our ideas through better planning and designing, as well as enhanced PR and marketing. We have done a tremendous job at it.

Highlights: gaining the ability to turn the fear of the pandemic into a strength. It's like getting chased by a tiger on a safari. As long as you stay inside, you'll be fine. So we did that and succeeded through a crazy time of unparalleled circumstances.

Those circumstances helped make TerraScale even better. Despite overcoming all challenges, what keeps you up at night?

As far as action plans for climate change, what our governments are doing about it. It's going to take everyone to work in harmony and to stop thinking with their checkbooks. Obviously, that's going to be a challenge.

In your opinion, what is humankind’s greatest invention?

Air conditioning! We're going to need it in the next few years.