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 AlgaePrize 2023-2025 competition is open to teams of two or more students currently enrolled in a U.S.-based high school, community college, college, university, or graduate program. The competition will span two academic years. Students will learn about the algae industry and will go on to support the nation’s biofuel research, algal commercial enhancement, and promote industry-driven education, training, and workforce development. Competitors will prepare creative solutions for real-world issues in the algae value chain. Students will compete to earn prize money and national recognition.

A select group of more than 100 Top Innovators from the following sectors (Agtech, Climate Tech, Life Science, Transportation, Biotech, and Saas amongst other sectors) will be chosen to showcase their breakthrough investment opportunities to an exclusive audience of Venture Capitalists, Corporate Investors, Private Investors, Investment Bankers, and Strategic Partners.

The summit will take place at the Hilton, Boston, MA on December 12-13, 2023.

The DOE Office of Technology Transitions Lab MATCH (Laboratory Making Advanced Technology Commercialization Harmonized) Prize is a $620K, three-phase competition aimed to accelerate national laboratory intellectual property (IP) licensing and commercialization. Lab MATCH provides an opportunity for innovators and entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds to work directly with national labs and their researchers to accelerate technology commercialization.

Participating national labs include:

• National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
• Sandia National Laboratories (SNL)
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Technology Transitions (OTT), EPIC Round 3 is a $4 million competitive funding program for the nation’s most innovative incubators supporting energy startups. EPIC Round 3 awards cash prizes and a three-year cooperative agreement to regional incubator teams that submit the most creative and impactful plans, then implement those plans to develop strong programming, connections, and support for energy startups and entrepreneurs.

The American-Made Community Power Accelerator Prize is a $10 million prize competition designed to fast-track the efforts of new, emerging, and expanding solar developers and co-developers to learn, participate, and grow their operations to support multiple successful community solar projects. Round 2 of this three-phase prize aims to increase the number of equitable community solar projects by providing funding and resources for developers and co-developers throughout the project pre-development process. By the end of the prize, competitors will be ready to engage with the Community Power Accelerator online platform, which provides a place for competitors to shop their credit-ready projects around to verified project developers, investors, and philanthropic organizations.

In partnership with Mom Your Business, First Founders Inc., and TEACHERS &, the Philly Gets Back in the Black Tech Pitch Contest will identify and select Black-owned businesses to participate in a transformative contest. These businesses will have the opportunity to demonstrate their innovative use of technology, with a focus on tech-enablement and innovation that enhances productivity and drives revenue growth. To further support the growth of Black-owned tech businesses, Mom Your Business and its partners will target twenty-five new and aspiring tech entrepreneurs for the Back in the Black Bootcamp. This intensive four-week program will provide focused training and mentorship in key business development areas, including branding, marketing, and operations.

The competition engages students across disciplines—engineering, finance, urban planning, sustainability, communications, and more—to reimagine how energy is generated, managed, and used in a district. For the Class of 2023–2024, students will have access to an enhanced training platform to support innovation and learning. Student teams will also have two options for their district use cases: (1) assignment to a district use case defined by competition organizers, or (2) a bring-your-own-district division in which students may self-select their district use case, collecting and using the district’s available data on their own, with data synthesis support from competition organizers. All student teams choosing to bring their own district will compete in a division against other teams bringing their own districts. Additionally, the Solar District Cup Class of 2023–2024 will open a division for one-semester or two-quarter participation in the winter/spring.

Through the Solar Ambassador Prize, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will award a total of $3.5 million to up to 20 community organizations to help accelerate the installation of residential solar and battery storage systems on an estimated 30,000 – 40,000 homes across Puerto Rico. Solar Ambassadors will initially receive $15,000 in seed funding and will be eligible for compensation based on the number of households enrolled for residential solar and battery storage home inspections. Community-based organizations, nonprofits, and for-profit entities with an existing presence in Puerto Rico are eligible to apply to become Solar Ambassadors.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is looking for innovative back-up power solutions that will help critical facilities continue to operate during electrical outages. Winning solutions will be affordable, easy-to-use, and environmentally friendly power sources that can provide on-site power generation for critical facilities that provide essential services to communities across the United States. This Challenge is seeking to identify and catalyze existing cutting-edge technologies with a TRL of 6 or higher that can be used to continue essential facility operations in an event of a power failure or disruption lasting more than 36-hours.

In Stage 1 the judges will choose up to fifteen Stage 1 Finalists to advance to Stage 2.  During Stage 2, we will hold a live demonstration of your solution and a second judging process.

The competition is open to all early-stage startups (Series A or earlier) that are focusing on Carbon Removal and Carbon Capture, Utilization & Storage anywhere in the world.

An expert team will review the applications and select five finalists, who will pitch before a live, online audience and judges at the SOSV Climate Tech Summit on September 26. The judges will announce the winner the next day during the summit.