Eco-Business The Liveability Challenge (TLC) 2026 for Startups ( Up to S$1 Million in Grant Funding)

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Applications are open for Eco-Business The Liveability Challenge (TLC) 2026. The Liveability Challenge (TLC) is an annual global initiative that seeks innovative, groundbreaking solutions to address urban challenges in the tropics. It crowd-sources the world for the best sustainability solutions and provides both the funding and ecosystem support required to take these ideas from laboratory to market.Presented by Temasek Foundation and organized by Eco-Business, TLC was established in 2018 and has since grown to become Asia’s largest sustainability solutions platform with a global reach and a reputation for helping companies — whose innovations are disrupting industries to create significant positive impact for society and planet — achieve success.

With eight successful editions concluded, TLC has attracted thousands of applications globally, shortlisted and incubated 54 start-ups, and deployed almost S$14 million in funding to help these start-ups, who have gone on to raise hundreds of millions more. Join us for the ninth edition of TLC, where the finalists will be showcased at a Grand Finale live in Singapore at Ecosperity Week 2026.

Started in 2018, The Liveability Challenge is a global call for viable, groundbreaking solutions to some of the greatest problems facing cities in the tropics in the 21st century. Finalists stand the chance to secure more than S$4 million in investments and development opportunities across both thematic areas to fund their game-changing solutions.

The Challenge Statement

The ninth edition of The Liveability Challenge features two main themes:

1. The Liveability Challenge: Decarbonisation

They are looking for disruptive deep-tech solutions that provide scalable and impactful solutions to reduce carbon emissions across diverse industries.

Examples of such solutions include, but not limited to:

Waste-to-resource
Effective capture and conversion of key waste streams (e.g., point-source carbon, biomass-based or other waste carbon) into value-added products (e.g., point-source or direct CCUS into consumables such as sustainable aviation fuels, marine fuels, chemicals, higher carbon products, fertilisers, proteins) or permanent carbon removal and storage (e.g., point-source or direct CCUS into stable building materials)
Renewable energy
To generate cost-effective energy from renewable sources (e.g., wind, solar, hydropower), technologies that accelerate the clean energy transition (e.g., green hydrogen, ammonia), as well as solutions that facilitate the long-term storage of energy and address energy intermittency (e.g., batteries and battery energy storage systems).
Energy efficiency
Significantly reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions produced by built environment systems (e.g., building cooling systems) as well as hard-to-abate industries (e.g., manufacturing – food & agriculture, cement, steel, aviation, marine, logistics, healthcare).
By-product valorisation
Repurpose carbon- and potassium-rich by-products currently combusted into potassium salt solutions to avoid energy-intensive processing and create higher-value applications.
Sustainable ammonia
Develop low-emission, cost-efficient pathways for ammonia production that are less CAPEX-intensive
Carbon capture
Lower the cost of CO₂ capture and purification beyond conventional amine-based methods, using alternatives such as solid sorbents or membranes.
Biofuel feedstocks
Enable commercially viable use of lignocellulosic biomass(stems, leaves, fibres) to improve yield and cost efficiency in 2G biofuel production.
Resource efficiency
Advance solutions to reduce energy and water intensity, improve desalination efficiency beyond reverse osmosis. Manage grid challenges from rapid solar PV integration.

Additionally solutions should be:

Carbon negative in the overall lifecycle and have zero/minimal externalities
Technology-based (e.g., physical, chemical); or nature-based solutions (e.g., community models)
Commercially viable and scalable
Able to conduct the pilot in Singapore (for technology-based solutions) or within Southeast Asia (for nature-based solutions)

Benefits

The top two solutions will win S$1 Million each in grant funding.
Two solutions in the Decarbonisation thematic area each stand a chance to receive up to S$1 million in development funding from A*STAR.

2. The Liveability Challenge: Cool Earth

They are seeking groundbreaking innovations that specifically address the challenges posed by climate-induced extreme weather conditions.

They are on the hunt for innovative solutions that enhance mitigation, resilience and adaptation to extreme weather events (especially heat) for a more liveable planet. We are also open to proposals that provide large-scale cooling benefits and adaptive solutions that strengthen resilience across diverse industries.

Examples of such solutions include, but not limited to:

Heat mitigation
To mitigate the growing challenge of excessive heat by focusing on reducing temperatures and/or adaptation solutions to help societies, especially vulnerable populations, withstand and adapt to the adverse effects of rising temperatures and more frequent heatwaves (e.g., climate-smart and climate-resilient food & agriculture, advanced materials for cooling – nano-coatings and film).
Nature-based solutions
For building climate resilient societies for at-risk groups through replicable and viable models that deliver impact for planet, people, and profit in the space of blue carbon (e.g., seaweed cultivation, mangrove restoration for coastal communities) and green carbon (e.g., bamboo cultivation, low-methane agriculture).

Benefits

The top two solutions will win S$1 Million each in grant funding.

Eligibility Criteria for The Liveability Challenge

You are eligible if you are:

18 years or older.
Not an employee of Temasek Foundation or Eco-Business
Not a close relative or connected otherwise with the organisation or the judging of the competition

Selection Criteria

Projects will be judged according to the following criteria:

Technology Readiness Level 6: Projects must have formulated its technology concept and application, undergone analytical and characteristic proof of concept. Components must be validated in a laboratory and relevant environment.
Innovation: The project must propose a solution that is based on a new technology, and must address a key sustainability issue.
Impact: The solution must deliver positive impact for sustainability and liveability, and must be better than competing technologies. The solution must also address all necessary safety, ethics or regulatory requirements.
Scalability: The solution should be commercially viable, with distribution channels for the solutions or end users or ‘receptacles’ to adopt them.