Oppdrift 2024 winner!
The Oppdrift-stipendet, a collaboration between Teknisk Ukeblad, Bryn Aarflot, Los & Co, Igaidi, and Vjus, is designed to empower startups working on sustainable solutions. With over 50 applicants and five carefully selected finalists, the competition was really intense. Litech emerged victorious, impressing a jury and an engaged audience with our breakthrough innovation in sensor detection for waste management.
Winning this award back in November last year is a major milestone for Litech, as it highlights the growing importance of technology in waste management and circular economy efforts. This 1 million NOK grant will provide vital resources to support our expansion, including expert guidance in IP strategy, marketing, and funding support. These resources will enable us to further improve product development, enhance our market strategy, and bring our technology to a much larger scale. With this support, we are confident in our ability to create real impact in waste sorting management and sustainability.
Winner of the Flaskefond prize 2024
At the Clima Tech Summit September 2024, just two months before the Oppdrifts grant, Litech was also awarded the Flaskefond Stipend, receiving 500,000 NOK in funding. Flaskefond, founded by Niklas Barre, gathers funds from recycled bottles and cans collected from over 100 Norwegian companies. Since its start in 2016, Flaskefond has transformed bottle returns into a movement for climate conscious innovation.
This achievement was surreal, given the high level of competition from the 39 other startups. It is an incredible honor and earning the title of ‘Climate Tech Startup of the Year’ is probably one of the most exciting recognitions in the Norwegian startup ecosystem. The prize is being directly invested in developing and enhancing our sensor technology, which is currently undergoing real-world testing.
Whats next for us?
Litech is currently engaged in two pilot projects with Norsk Gjenvinning and Oslo Renovasjonsetat. These pilots are crucial in refining our magnetic induction waste sorting solutions and ensuring that our technology meets industrial standards for reliability and scalability. With this support, we can also scale our technology across municipal and industrial waste facilities. We are committed to driving change to by reducing fire incidents in waste facilities by providing innovative waste sorting solutions. With the backing of Oppdrift-stipendet and Flaskefond Stipend, we will continue our journey toward a safer, more efficient waste management system.
We extend our gratitude to Bryn Aarflot, Oppdrift Partners, and Flaskefond for their support and for believing in our vision.
This is just the beginning, and we are excited about what the future holds!
MORE FROM LITECH
Coleen Castillo
Why the Circular Economy Can't Scale Without Better Waste Sorting
The circular economy is often framed as a collection problem: get more material into the right bins, and recovery rates will follow. The data tells a different story. Recovery is falling even as more attention and investment go into sustainability, and the reason comes down to what happens after material reaches a facility, not before. If a sorting system cannot correctly identify what is moving through it, valuable material gets treated the same as waste, no matter how well it was collected.
Coleen Castillo
SUEZ Pilot: Litechs first international pilot is now live!
SUEZ is a French industrial giant with facilities in 40 countries across Europe, Africa, and Asia, handling tens of millions of tonnes of waste every year. Litech's detection technology is now installed on a dedicated test line at one of SUEZ's sorting facilities, where it is being validated in a real operating environment.
Coleen Castillo
"AI" Doesn't Automatically Mean Camera-Based Technology
In waste and recycling tech, "AI" usually gets associated with camera-based sorting. That's a fair assumption, most of the AI applications in this industry are built around visual recognition, cameras scanning objects on a belt and sorting them by what they look like. But that's not what Litech does.
Let’s work together to close the loop
Recover more, reduce fire risk, and boost your sorting rate — with sensors under your existing conveyor belt.
Join our newsletter!
Stay updated on our latest pilots, product improvements, and how our technology is preventing fires across facilities.