We partner with visionary founders to build companies that help resource-intensive industries reach their productivity & climate targets. We provide critical early-stage support beyond the investment, and support our founders to pilot, demonstrate and scale their solutions. Our world-class ecosystem gives our startups a head start to reduce commercialization timelines and find the right solution – market fit. 

This 4-week Cleantech Propelus I-Corps program will be a collaboration between the Cleantech Open Northeast and the Northeast I-Corps Hub. Together, we support research teams and aspiring startups with cleantech innovations to advance those technologies forward so we can solve our greatest environmental and energy challenges. This four-session program helps researchers explore the customer perspective to inform how a clean technology discovery or innovation can become the basis of a successful startup or venture.

Climate Collider is a four-week startup exchange program bringing together Swiss and American startups working on global solutions to climate change. Launched in partnership with Swiss innovation agency Innosuisse, the program aims to build a transatlantic startup community and foster international collaboration in climate innovation.

The US Department of Energy, the Israel Ministry of Energy, jointly with the Israel Innovation Authority and the BIRD Foundation invite you to apply for grant funding through BIRD Energy. This program develops innovation through US-Israel cooperation on a range of clean energy technologies, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, natural gas, and energy-water technologies. To be considered, a project proposal should include:

• R&D cooperation between two companies or between a company and university/research institution (one from the US and one from Israel).
• Innovation in all areas of renewable energy and energy efficiency
• Innovation that scales up carbon-free technologies and reduces carbon emissions
• Significant commercial potential; the project outcome should lead to commercialization.

The Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program is part of the Inflation Reduction Act. Under PACE, USDA Rural Development’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) will forgive up to 60 percent of loans for renewable energy projects that use wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, or biomass, as well as for renewable energy storage projects. At least 50 percent of the population served by your proposed renewable energy project must live in communities with populations of 20,000 or fewer.

This 6-week intensive program prepares startups for the partnerships and investment necessary to launch their venture. We are partnering with entrepreneurship hub TechTown Detroit to deliver this programming, which aims to help entrepreneurs bridge the gap between customer discovery and commercial launch. We’ve refined our process to help deep-tech companies over the last 27 years and bring this focused opportunity with support of the Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Prize from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Transitions (OTT).

The mHUB EnergyTech Startup Pitch Competition will showcase cutting-edge hardtech startups specializing in climate and energy technologies. This pitch competition, taking place virtually on June 27, 2023, is designed to support under-represented women founders and entrepreneurs of color. Startups focused on innovative climate tech and energy technologies can apply to pitch virtually to a group of esteemed judges for cash awards totaling $8,500 and connections to industry decision-makers and investors interested in hardtech.

• 1st Place Prize: $5,000
• 2nd Place Prize: $2,500
• 3rd Place Prize: $1,000

Scale Up NM helps to advance the strength of New Mexico’s communities, promotes equity through economic justice, enables high-quality home-grown innovation, and diversifies NM’s economy by expanding target industries. In partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, Scale Up NM supports the programming addressing barriers to commercialization for women, and in partnership with NM Startup Factory, supports investment education events. Target industry sectors (derived from NMEDD’s plan) include outdoor recreation, tourism, clean energy, arts, value-added agriculture, industrial trade and healthcare.

The LACI Incubation program offers hands-on incubation services for cleantech startups to grow in Los Angeles. The first four months of the 2-year program are dedicated to intensive curriculum workshops, one-on-one coaching sessions, and roundtables on go-to-market, investor readiness, and pilots. After the initial curriculum, the program is focused on achieving objectives outlined in a custom business roadmap of fundraising, product development, market access, team growth, pilot deployment, and partnerships.

Innovators is a core LACI accelerator program serving early-stage cleantech startups in Southern California. The one-year program is funded by the California Energy Commission’s Regional Energy Innovation Cluster (REIC) and aims to support early stage entrepreneurs launching their venture in California’s growing cleantech innovation ecosystem.

The Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program helps rural Americans transition to clean, affordable, and reliable energy. By reducing air and water pollution, New ERA funding improves health outcomes and lower energy costs for people in rural communities. A Letter of Interest must be submitted by August 31. The New ERA program is available only to rural electric cooperatives, including:

• Existing or former USDA Rural Utilities Service (RUS) borrowers
• Borrowers of the former Rural Electrification Administration
• Rural electric cooperatives that serve predominantly rural areas
• Wholly or jointly owned subsidiaries of rural electric cooperatives