🇮🇸 Carbfix receives Iceland’s Innovation Award 2024

Today, the Iceland Innovation Award 2024 was presented to the innovation company Carbfix, which developed and marketed technology to permanently bind carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide deep in basalt rock layers through mineralization.

Kári Helgason, Head of Research and Innovation at Carbfix, and Ragna Björk Bragadóttir, Project Manager for Grant Projects, accepted the award from Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir, Minister of Higher Education, Industry, and Innovation, after the Innovation Conference held at Gróska on Tuesday, October 23.

Kári stated, “The award is a welcome recognition of the contribution of all those involved in developing the Carbfix technology over the years. The opportunities for innovation in climate solutions are vast, and we continue to make our technology more efficient and cost-effective, for example, by substituting fresh water with seawater.”

About the Award Recipient

Carbfix is an Icelandic innovation company that has developed technology to permanently bind carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide in rock through its mineralization process. Carbfix aims to alleviate climate change by building safe and proven technology to capture carbon dioxide in basalt layers, both in Iceland and internationally, where geological conditions are met. For over a decade, CO₂ has been injected underground using this technology, which has removed nearly 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Today, the company employs over 60 people from 13 nationalities and works in cooperative projects in more than 20 countries.

Carbfix originated within Reykjavik Energy and is the result of collaboration with scientists from the University of Iceland, CNRS Toulouse in France, and Columbia University in the U.S. Results showing that the natural process could be accelerated by liquefaction of carbon dioxide in suitable rock formations were published in Science, one of the world’s most respected scientific journals, in 2016. Since then, numerous universities and research institutions have participated in the company’s research, with over a hundred peer-reviewed scientific papers published. Carbfix has been operating as an independent company since 2020. In 2022, it received the largest European grant ever awarded to an Icelandic company from the EU Innovation Fund, which falls under the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). The technology and its success in carbon capture have been reviewed and certified by independent verification bodies. Carbfix has also been featured on the cover of National Geographic and covered by 60 Minutes, Netflix specials, and other major media outlets.

Iceland Innovation Awards

The Iceland Innovation Award is presented by Business Iceland, the Icelandic Intellectual Property Office, the Icelandic Innovation Fund, and the Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannís). The award recognizes companies that have excelled indeveloping innovative products or services rooted in research and have achieved market success. The aim is to highlight the crucial link between research, knowledge acquisition, and the creation of economic value.

The statue award is of the fertility god Freyr, created by sculptor Hallsteinn Sigurðsson.

Below, you can see several photos from the event.