In 2024, flagship servitisation initiatives led by the BASE Foundation and part of the SET Alliance—Your Virtual Cold Chain Assistant (Your VCCA) and Servetia—achieved significant milestones as part of their commitment to advancing sustainable solutions. These projects demonstrate the transformative potential of the Efficiency-as-a-Service model across diverse sectors, from enabling affordable and energy-efficient cold chains for smallholder farmers in vulnerable regions to driving decarbonisation in Switzerland’s building sector. Together, these initiatives are setting new precedents for innovative, impactful, and scalable sustainable practices globally.
Your Virtual Cold Chain Assistant: broadening impact in developing countries
Your Virtual Cold Chain Assistant (Your VCCA) is a collaboration between the BASE Foundation and Empa, launched in 2021 to make Cooling-as-a-Service (CaaS) a practical and accessible solution for the agricultural sector. This pioneering model leverages decentralised, solar-powered cold storage facilities to help small-scale farmers and aggregators access affordable cooling solutions: farmers pay a small fee per crate stored, per day. To foster transparency and optimise operations, Coldtivate, a digital app to monitor inventory and track shelf-life and room operations, was created.
Launch in Guinea Bissau
In February 2024, a project started aiming to tailor the YourVCCA solution, already implemented in India and Nigeria, to Guinea-Bissau. The team completed a market assessment to understand farmer needs and optimise infrastructure placement. The project is seeking to deploy solar-powered cooling units leveraging the innovative Cooling-as-a-Service model and equip cold room operators and local smallholder farmers with the Coldtivate app, for monitoring produce shelf-life and performance. By focusing on fruits and vegetables, capacity-building, and community engagement, the initiative aims to reduce food loss, enhance farmer incomes, and explore the potential for regional replication in West Africa.
To learn more, visit: Your VCCA Guinea Bissau Project.
Creating the Coldtivate Marketplace
To address the challenge of directly connecting farmers with potential buyers, deterring the usage of cooling facilities due to the uncertainty of selling the stored produce, a “Smart Cool Markets” feature was created for the Coldtivate app. Thanks to this digital marketplace, farmers can list produce stored in solar-powered cold storage units, showcasing availability and quality through digital twins.
On the other end, buyers can browse these listings, verify quality, and purchase directly, ensuring transparency and reducing food loss. Additionally, the platform enables logistical coordination and enhances farmer access to markets, increasing profitability while promoting clean cooling technologies.
The feature is being currently piloted in Nigeria with partners ColdHubs and LeapEnergy.
For more info, visit: Smart Cool Markets.
Developing the Onboarding Kit
Finally, to facilitate the adoption of the solution, the Your VCCA team started the development of an Onboarding Kit over the second half of 2024. The package will equip cooling companies with essential tools and resources to uptake each element of the Your VCCA solution, including the Cooling-as-a-Service model for cold rooms and the Coldtivate app. This initiative aims to offer a comprehensive suite, including a cooling needs assessment tool, pricing models, and capacity-building material. Designed to foster scalability and innovation, the kit emphasises sustainability and operational efficiency. It empowers cold room operators to transition toward innovative business models, making sustainable cold chain solutions more accessible and affordable to local farmers. This pioneering approach addresses both environmental and business objectives.
For details, visit: Your VCCA Onboarding Kit.
Servetia: bringing the as-as-service model for sustainable energy solutions in the Swiss building sector
Servetia is empowering Swiss businesses to overcome barriers to energy efficiency by introducing the servitisation model, also often referred to as Efficiency-as-a-Service (EaaS). This innovative approach shifts the focus from owning energy systems to accessing their services, such as heating or cooling, through a pay-per-use model. Providers retain ownership of the systems, managing operation, maintenance, and upgrades, enabling companies to benefit from cutting-edge technology without large upfront costs. Optimising energy consumption, reducing risks, and promoting sustainability, Servetia connects solution providers, financiers, and institutions to accelerate decarbonisation and foster sustainable growth.
Learn more: Servetia Launch
Collaboration with the Zollikerberg Hospital
Over the past year, Servetia notably partnered with Stiftung Diakoniewerk Neumünster (SDN) and Hospital Zollikerberg to explore decarbonisation strategies within their campus, aligning sustainability with their values of care and responsibility. The project involves photovoltaic systems, renewable heating and cooling solutions, and LED retrofits to achieve significant energy efficiency improvements. Servitisation was introduced through tailored workshops, emphasising reduced risks and operational benefits. Servetia also supported the tendering process to invite innovative providers. The project is in its research phase, with implementation expected by 2025.
More info on the project: Servetia and Zollikerberg.
Driving the servitisation momentum at Building Bridges
In December 2024, at the recent Building Bridges Conference, an insightful session including Bertrand Piccard of the Solar Impulse Foundation, Elina Roine of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Yannick Heinrich, lead of the Servetia Initiative, shed light on the transformative potential of servitisation models and innovative financing for driving the transition to a low-carbon economy. This exchange underscored the importance of aligning interests and overcoming financial barriers to scale the deployment of efficient solutions across sectors.
Insights about the event on our partner’s E4S website.
