Ayrton Fund Boosts Clean Energy Access for 46 Million

The Ayrton Fund, backed by the United Kingdom, has significantly improved access to clean energy for 46 million people across emerging economies. It has mobilized more than £3 billion in public and private finance and supported over 256,000 green jobs.

These figures were released in a statement on Monday ahead of the Ayrton-Oxford Academic Symposium at the University of Oxford, organized in collaboration with the Africa-Oxford Initiative, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the Transforming Energy Access Learning Partnership, and UK Research and Innovation. The fund's initiatives have created a global research and innovation ecosystem involving 78 universities and over 840 innovators and partners, leading to 191 technology patent applications and more than 2,400 research papers.

The symposium aims to foster collaboration among universities, innovators, policymakers, and investors to enhance energy access and sustainable economic development. Caroline Ward, a Senior International Funds Manager at UK Research and Innovation, emphasized the importance of this collaboration, while Professor Kevin Marsh highlighted the critical role of African researchers in addressing global challenges like energy poverty.