ACCEL is here to bolster you as you develop critical climatetech solutions by offering access to funding, networking connections, resources, and opportunities that structural inequities put out of reach. We embrace intersectionality and look forward to you bringing your full self to the program. This year-long program combines acceleration with a curated curriculum, incubation through Greentown Labs membership, and extensive mentorship from Greentown and Browning the Green Space (BGS)’s networks of industry experts. Greentown and BGS know the climatetech industry must change the status quo to equitably position you to lead startups that will address climate change, support the development of diverse workforces, and fiercely advocate for the deployment of clean technologies in historically underserved communities. For Year 3 of the ACCEL program, we’re seeking applications from innovative startups at TRL 2-4 with founding and executive teams that are primarily made up of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) leaders who are developing climate solutions for the agriculture, buildings, electricity, manufacturing, resiliency + adaptation, and transportation sectors.

The fifth edition of The Clean Fight is focused on decarbonizing existing multifamily low-to-moderate income (LMI) and affordable housing in New York City and State. In collaboration with leaders in the affordable housing market–the Climate Friendly Homes Fund administered by The Community Preservation Corporation–we’re seeking high impact solutions that break down barriers to decarbonization and simplify the retrofit process for multifamily LMI and affordable housing. Our program is laser-focused on supporting the scaling of your solution. How? Through high-touch matchmaking with housing partners, and critical ecosystem players, connections to the right sources of capital to meet your growth needs, and access to technical assistance and grant funding to facilitate demonstration projects in New York State.

FLIPspace: Advanced Mobility Arkansas offers a unique opportunity to transform transportation across the state by tapping into the power of federal intellectual property (IP). With exclusive access to innovative technologies and patents sourced from federal research labs across the U.S., you’ll work alongside other passionate innovators to solve real transportation challenges—whether that is designing reliable options for rural communities, creating eco-friendly solutions to cut emissions, or reimagining how people and goods move across urban and remote areas. FLIPspace is a seven-month program tailored for Arkansas-based postgraduates, faculty, university staff, and administrators who are driven to make an impact. You don’t need a technical background in advanced mobility—just curiosity and a willingness to tackle real-world problems. Apply solo or with colleagues, and you’ll be matched with other dedicated participants to form a three-person team.

The Regional Resilience Innovation Incubators (R2I2) is a cross-directorate NSF solicitation led by the Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) and the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP). R2I2 will support community- engaged team science to co-design high-impact solutions to climate-related societal challenges that leverage recent advances in fundamental climate change and Earth system science research. Each R2I2 project will address specific regional climate challenges and will develop and demonstrate solutions to those challenges that can be effectively applied in real- world settings. Investment in R2I2 will leverage past federal investments in addressing climate change and will provide a bridge connecting advancements in basic science with local knowledge, informed decision making, and technological innovations for societal applications.

Hailing from around the world, BE Fellows are focused on technologies that have the potential to reduce greenhouse gases, at scale, by at least 500 million tons per year. Technologies supported to date include high-impact areas such as hydrogen, electrofuels, steel, cement, food and agriculture, energy storage, nuclear fusion, carbon dioxide capture, storage and sequestration. The Breakthrough Energy Fellows program has three pathways, defined as follows:

• Innovator Fellows are world-leading scientists and engineers who enter the program with a critical climate technology to commercialize.
• Business Fellows are experienced professionals with tech commercialization skills who support the Innovator Fellows in accelerating their path to market.
• Explorers receive funding for earlier stage, higher technical risk endeavors. These projects are typically led by scientists at university labs or research entities.

Are you an innovator? Do you have an emerging business or solution related to energy, climate, sustainability, or cleantech? Are you ready to take your innovation or business to the next level? The PowerNorth Virtual Incubator is a 10-week program tailored for early-stage energy and cleantech entrepreneurs in Minnesota.

ACORE Accelerate members work on solutions in wind, solar, battery storage, hydrokinetic energy, and more. They are women and BIPOC-led businesses committed to creating good-quality jobs and sustaining impact in their communities. Members include manufacturers, project developers, professional service providers and consultants. ACORE hosts an annual call for applications and selects up to 10 Accelerate members per cohort. Over the two-year program, Accelerate members receive complimentary access to paid events, exclusive briefings, tools and advocacy. Members build relationships across ACORE’s influential network of financial institutions, major corporate clean energy buyers, utilities, academic institutions, and allied nonprofit groups and are eligible to serve a year-long term on ACORE’s Board of Directors. At the end of the program, members receive access to continued benefits as members of the Accelerate alumni network.

Third Derivative and RMI are launching the Industrial Innovation Cohorts. Enabled by a $2M grant from The Lemelson Foundation, we’re launching the Industrial Innovation Cohorts initiative to source, select, and support the most promising innovations in cement and concrete, iron and steel, and chemicals decarbonization.

For startups, this initiative represents an opportunity to get their innovation to market faster through a founder-friendly accelerator program designed with their needs in mind. For our collaborators, it means a front-row seat to the most exciting startups working on industrial decarbonization and access to novel research and analysis on innovation in these sectors.

The Build to Scale (B2S) program supports organizations that strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems to support entrepreneurs as they build and scale technology-driven businesses—and the employees in the new, good jobs they create—to make and deliver new technology products and services. B2S grants fund programs that support innovators, entrepreneurs, and startups transforming ideas into the critical, emerging technologies of the future. On Sept. 9, 2024, EDA launched the FY24 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the $50 million B2S program. EDA expects to make 40 to 50 awards, with expected award amounts spanning from the low hundreds of thousands of dollars up to $5 million.

The FLIPspace: Advanced Mobility Northwest Arkansas pilot program is a seven-month initiative that focuses specifically on addressing the transportation challenges of the region, offering participants the opportunity to develop and commercialize new mobility technologies that will shape the future of transportation. Throughout the experience, teams will gain a deep understanding of tech transfer, with support from the FLC FLEX Program, to refine their market research skills and evaluate federal technologies in a competitive business landscape. Participants will collaborate with industry leaders and expert mentors to shape their ideas into market-ready solutions that address real-world challenges in transportation and mobility.