The New York Clean Transportation Prizes program will electrify transportation, reduce air pollution, and enhance clean mobility in disadvantaged communities in New York State. The competitions will each run in two phases. In the first phase, participants must register by July 22, 2021, to be eligible to submit proposals.

The three prize competitions are:

• Clean Neighborhoods Challenge – up to three $10 million grand prizes will be awarded to innovative projects that address local air pollution reduction at scale in disadvantaged communities. The submission deadline is August 24, 2021.
• Electric Mobility Challenge – up to three $7 million grand prizes will be awarded to projects that demonstrate innovative safe and convenient electric mobility options that help solve disadvantaged community transportation needs. The submission deadline is August 25, 2021.
• Electric Truck & Bus Challenge – up to three $8 million grand prizes will be awarded to projects that demonstrate electrified solutions to the deployment of medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicles or their replacement through other electrified transportation modes. The submission deadline is August 26, 2021.

An independent pool of global experts will help New York State assess applications and guide the project selection process through the different phases of the competitions. Under the first phase of the program, projects selected and located in one of the six New York State investor-owned utility (IOU) territories will be eligible to receive the following award package:

• A $100,000 planning grant
• Up to $50,000 in funding for community partners
• Up to $50,000 in-kind support from NYSERDA provided expert consultants
• Additional support services for project management, community engagement, and measurement and verification

Calling all founders with massive ideas: Applications for CDL 2021/22 Program Year are now open Applications are due July 30 for the nine-month program that starts this October

Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is seeking applications from motivated venture founders in the process of building the world’s most promising science and technology startups who could benefit from mentorship, technical advice and the opportunity to raise capital.

The nonprofit organization’s mission is to accelerate the commercialization of science for the betterment of humankind. CDL runs a nine-month, objectives-based program for massively scalable, seed-stage, science- and tech-based companies in 15 streams at nine sites across the globe.

More than 4,000 founders from over 1,700 companies have already participated in CDL since 2012, and CAD $8 billion in equity value has been created through the program. CDL does not charge any fees or take equity.

Five key elements help venture founders transform their projects into scalable, financeable companies:

• Objective-setting, which guides companies to focus on what’s most important to their business;
• Focused mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs who have founded, led, and sold significant tech companies;
• Technical advice from world-leading scientists, engineers, and economists;
• Hands-on support from top business students;
• Opportunities to raise capital, including from angels and venture capitalists in Europe and North America.