Activate Updates: December 2023

This Month's Features

COP28: To Meet Climate Targets, We Need Science Entrepreneurs
Introducing Breaking Ground: A Blog Series by Activate Managing Directors

Plus

Activate Fellow wins
Ecosystem news
Job opportunities

COP28: To Meet Climate Targets, We Need Science Entrepreneurs

By Matt Price, Co-Founder and CFO at Activate

I just returned from COP28, the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, held this year in Dubai. Every year, COP presents a powerful opportunity to bring world leaders together and set goals for climate action. Here are my biggest takeaways.

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2023 by the Numbers

By just about any measure, 2023 was a powerful year for Activate and our fellows. Here are some of 2023’s most significant wins.

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A Note to the Boston Climate-Tech Community as We Enter Adulthood

Breaking Ground: A Blog Series by Activate Managing Directors

By Dan Recht, Activate Boston Managing Director

You can start the story of the Boston climate-tech ecosystem in a lot of ways, but I begin with the founding of the MIT Energy Club and the Harvard Energy Journal Club within a few months of each other in 2004 and 2005. That means our community is turning 19 this year—and finally emerging from an adolescence characterized by rapid growth in size and maturity along with a fair amount of teenage awkwardness. What does it mean for our community to enter adulthood?

Several fellows represented the importance of climate-tech development and deployment at COP28. Leah Ellis (Sublime Systems, Cohort 2020) spoke on a panel about women driving climate solutions. Dan Stack (Electrified Thermal Solutions, Cohort 2020) spoke at COP28 as part of the Alliance for Industry Decarbonization. Tim Latimer (Fervo Energy, Cohort 2018, Cyclotron Road) met with fellow innovators at the conference. And Takachar (Kevin Kung, Cohort 2018, Cyclotron Road) participated in Expo City Dubai, a showcase of climate-tech companies.

Three Activate Fellows were named members of Forbes’s newest class of 30 Under 30. Marissa Beatty (Turnover Technologies, Cohort 2022), Drew Lilley (Calion Technologies, Cohort 2023, Cyclotron Road), and Steve Jepeal (Allium Engineering, Cohort 2023) were recognized as some of the brightest young entrepreneurs.

IN OUR ECOSYSTEM
Upcoming events, relevant opportunities, and what we're reading.

Upcoming Events

We're excited to announce that Activate is an official partner of CarbonUnbound USA, a leadership summit happening May 21-23, 2024 in New York City. Our partnership and the summit will focus on achieving a collective mission: one gigaton of carbon removed from Earth's atmosphere. Join the waitlist for early ticket access.
The annual Gastech conference will be held in Houston from September 17-20, 2024. Traditionally an oil and gas-focused conference, this year’s added focus on hydrogen and climate tech will showcase cutting-edge technologies and innovations. A call for papers is open with abstracts due January 26, 2024.

Relevant Opportunities

The Scale for ClimateTech (S4C) program, supported by NYSERDA, provides dedicated support to innovators and helps them scale production to meet demand. Applications for this program close on December 22, 2023.
Greentown Labs' ACCEL program provides BIPOC-founded startups with mentorship, a curated startup curriculum, a $25K stipend, and a Greentown Labs membership. Apply by January 5, 2024.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $10M in funding for a new program, Inspiring Generations of New Innovators to Impact Technologies in Energy 2024 (IGNIITE 2024), which will empower early-career innovators to develop disruptive energy technologies. The deadline for concept paper submissions is January 5, 2024.
The DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy issued a funding opportunity announcement for up to $10M to fund technologies or processes to address critical material challenges in high-impact areas. Concept papers are due on January 5, 2024 by 5pm ET to be eligible to submit a full application.
Labstart supports underrepresented founders in launching their own climate startups, built from technologies licensed from U.S. national labs and universities. The program offers $100K in funding, a guided startup curriculum, mentorship with a peer cohort, access to industry networks and funding pipelines, and guidance navigating the patent licensing process. Applications are due January 9, 2024.
The DeltaClimeVT Energy2024 energy and climate business accelerator program is designed to help Vermont’s utilities increase adoption of clean-energy, smart building, and electric vehicle technologies that enable the integration of distributed energy resources with the grid. Entrepreneurs will work directly with Vermont utilities throughout the program to contribute to Vermont’s Comprehensive Energy Plan (90% renewables/efficiency by 2050) and Burlington’s Net Zero by 2030 goals. Apply by February 23, 2024.

Activate Voices

Antora Energy (David Biermann, Cohort 2017, Justin Briggs and Andrew Ponec, Cohort 2018, Cyclotron Road) was featured on CNN This Morning, with chief climate correspondent Bill Weir visiting Antora to see its thermal battery in action.
PseudolithIC (Dan Green and Florian Herrault, Cohort 2022) and Soctera (Austin Hickman, Cohort 2022) won the Defense Business Accelerator (DBX) Microelectronics Challenge, which awards commercially viable microelectronics solutions and allows startups to present their innovations to a panel of industry, government, and investment experts.
CalWave (Marcus Lehmann, Cohort 2015, Cyclotron Road) was featured in a Scripps News article and video about harnessing ocean waves as a fossil-fuel-free source of energy.
Tim Latimer (Cohort 2018, Cyclotron Road) and Fervo Energy were featured in a PBS News Hour segment on how Texas has become the United States' renewable energy leader.
Nitricity (Josh McEnaney and Jay Schwalbe, Cohort 2020, Cyclotron Road) announced that they secured an investment from Cultivate Next, Chipotle’s venture fund. This funding will be used to scale up Nitricity’s production of nitrogen, build out the company’s infrastructure, and support the launch of its first commercial product, which is a cleaner, more sustainable, and cost-efficient fertilizer.
Etosha Cave (Twelve, Cohort 2015, Cyclotron Road) was named on Business Insider's Climate Action 30 list, which features 30 of the top global leaders working toward climate solutions in 2023.

Want us to highlight an upcoming event or relevant opportunity in next month's newsletter? Let us know.

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