A signature program of NYCEDC’s Venture Access NYC initiative, the Founder Fellowship is designed to improve access to capital and networks for underrepresented founders across all tech-enabled sectors. Each year, the Founder Fellowship supports a diverse community of New York City tech startup founder teams with much-needed access to resources and networks to help them grow their companies. Selected teams are placed in Founder Fellow cohorts led by NYCEDC’s program operators. All Fellow teams receive unique value and offerings including:

• Individualized work plans to identify key needs and interests
• Cohort convenings to discuss challenges and receive business administration support
• Connections to capital providers and potential collaborators
• Access to mentors and advisor network

This six-month fellowship empowers women and people of color to cultivate their technical and professional skills within the gig economy at mHUB. Fellows are offered unparalleled resources at mHUB’s cutting-edge innovation center in Chicago, including access to $6M worth of prototyping equipment, professional and technical development workshops, and a diverse innovation ecosystem.

In its 29th year, the Industry Growth Forum (IGF) is the premier event for climate tech and cleantech  entrepreneurs, investors, and experts from industry and the public sector to build relationships, showcase innovative technologies, and identify disruptive business solutions. Presenting companies are chosen from applicants vetted by a selection committee of more than 100 climate tech and cleantech investors and industry experts. This rigorous screening process provides beneficial feedback to startups that apply. The top 40 companies are invited to present.

The APEX Accelerators program, formerly known as Procurement Technical Assistance Program (PTAP), under management of the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP), plays a critical role in the Department’s efforts to identify and helps a wide range of businesses enter and participate in the defense supply-chain. The program provides the education and training to ensure that all businesses become capable of participating in federal, state, and local government contracts.

Breakthrough Energy Fellows (BEF) flagship program, the Innovator Fellowship, is designed to accelerate the development of promising early-stage climate technologies. The Fellowship is a full-time commitment for innovators committed to commercializing their climate technology. Typically, Innovator projects have raised less than $2,000,000 in dilutive funding and are legally incorporated prior to program start date of September 2024.

The Explorers Fellowship offers funding for developing breakthrough climate solutions that are earlier stage, higher technical risk, and may not yet be ready to incorporate. Explorers’ projects are typically in a university lab or research entity, and are overseen by professors, faculty members, or full-time researchers who can remain in position for this part-time opportunity.

Powered by Launch Tennessee, InvestTN manages two equity capital programs totaling $58M for Tennessee-located early-stage startups: Regional Seed Fund and Technology Fund. Startups at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A or B stages are eligible for an initial investment of $25k to $3M.

Innovation Crossroads, a Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is the Southeast’s only entrepreneurial research and development program based at a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory. Innovation Crossroads supports and mentors entrepreneurial researchers whose early-stage innovations are presently too challenging or technically uncertain to pursue in a venture capital-financed startup. Innovators are selected for the program through an annual competition. Innovation Crossroads embeds innovators at ORNL for up to two years for entrepreneurial mentorship and to conduct cooperative research and development with the intention of incubating and translating innovations from proof-of-concept to proof-of-product.

The Accelerator program focuses on three main themes: financial services, cross-border expansion, and intelligent manufacturing, and is open for applications globally! The Selection Day is scheduled for December 2023, followed by a six-month acceleration program from January to June 2024. Selected startups will have the opportunity to connect with leading financial institutions, investment firms, and enterprises in China.

Telluride Venture Network is creating a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem with services typically unavailable in rural communities.

Launched in 2013, TVN is a nationally recognized, award-winning entrepreneurial ecosystem that supports new, innovative and growing businesses by providing capital funds, mentorship programs, acceleration bootcamps, networking sessions, and project demonstrations.

The Innovation Hot Spot program provides five years of corporate, personal income, and sales tax incentives to qualifying tech or manufacturing companies. These eligible companies receive entrepreneurial services during their enrollment through The Tech Garden as the regional Innovation Hot Spot, or through our incubator partners, to help companies grow in Central New York.

The purpose of this NFO is to facilitate the OSD ManTech mission broadly and specifically to deliver the public benefit inherent in the promotion of education and training of the defense manufacturing workforce. OSD ManTech seeks applications from organizations regarding mechanisms and organizational structures needed to identify and categorize the advanced manufacturing workforce, implement and research the effectiveness of advanced manufacturing education and training programs and/or methods, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, outreach, and/or workforce development initiatives specific to defense advanced manufacturing.

Early-stage clean energy entrepreneurs face challenges in accessing testing facilities as they progress towards commercialization. The CalTestBed Initiative is a voucher program that assists clean energy entrepreneurs in gaining access to critical testing facilities. It expedites their pathway to commercialization through connection to a network of next-level partners.