��ͷ��ԭ��

Management Studies student Ariel de Fauconberg (2020) has been awarded the prestigious Bracken Bower Prize, awarded to the best business book proposal by an author aged under 35.

Ariel was named winner of the £15,000 prize at a ceremony at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on 5 December.

She describes her , Before the Dawn: Racing to net zero on the front lines of climate innovation, as a “candid account of a cohort of climate tech entrepreneurs” as they face up to “the challenges of founding and scaling the innovations needed to navigate the climate crisis and bring society to net zero emissions.”

The proposal follows the successes and heartbreaks of 60 entrepreneurial teams seeking a “fundamental transformation” of business practices and global infrastructure in order to combat climate change. The idea for the proposal stems from Ariel’s experiences and observations from the 18 months she spent at a climate tech accelerator in Cambridge doing research for her doctorate.

Katherine Garrett-Cox, chief executive of GIB Asset Management and one of the judges for the prize, described Ariel proposal as a “standout” account “from the front line of tackling climate change”.

Ariel said: “I am delighted that my book proposal has received this year’s Financial Times and McKinsey & Co. Bracken Bower Award. It is exciting to see growing interest in the climate tech venture movement space and recognition of the innovation efforts of climate entrepreneurs themselves.

“My own work has been possible thanks to the support and encouragement of the Gates Cambridge Trust, ��ͷ��ԭ��, and the Cambridge Judge Business School research community.”

Accepting the award, she said: “I hope all of you leave this room and this event tonight with more of an inspiration towards what we can do on the climate tech front. My entrepreneurs risk so much professionally but they all see this future that we all can hope will actually manifest, maybe by 2050 at the latest but hopefully even sooner.

“So rather than necessarily thinking of the climate angst that can come out of all the news we hear on a routine basis, that’s perfectly valid, but we also have such an incredible future we can shape going ahead.”

Ariel is a Gates Cambridge scholar and co-founder and research director of the Good Data Initiative, a youth-led think-tank. She is a PhD student in the Organisational Theory and Information Systems subject group at Cambridge Judge Business School, and previously graduated from the Business School’s MPhil Innovation, Strategy, and Organisation programme in 2020.

She is intending to write and publish her book after she has prioritised the academic articles detailing her fieldwork.