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Science. Innovation. Impact.

Stories of science shaping our future.

The Idea Lab

Our Activate Blog and News Hub

Community, Collisions, & Camaraderie: The 2022 Activate Summit

June 25 was a banner day for the Activate community. For a few jam-packed hours, we reconnected with friends and partners, celebrated the graduating Cohort 2020 fellows, welcomed..

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Meet the 39 New Activate Fellows Who Are on a Mission to Build a Cleaner, Safer Society

After months of deliberations and weeks of preparation, we are thrilled to introduce our next cohort of Activate Fellows. These 39 founders are turning their breakthroughs into..

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Startup to Sale: How Cohort 2015 Fellow Tom McDonald Built and Sustained Mosaic Materials

Baker Hughes has acquired the startup and plans to deploy its carbon dioxide capture technology across the industrial value chain. Tom McDonald was going to be a professor. That..

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Brimstone Raises $55M Series A to Build Pilot Plant, Grow Team

Co-founded by Activate Fellow Cody Finke, Brimstone has developed a pathway to decarbonize cement, the essential material that contributes 7.5 percent of global carbon dioxide..

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Impact Science Ventures Invests in Cohort Companies, Catalyzes New Investment Partnership Program at Activate

We’re thrilled to share the news that Impact Science Ventures (ISV), a venture capital firm co-founded by Activate’s former VP of investments and focused on scaling scientific..

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UMARO Hooks Sharks, Closes Seed Series

UMARO Co-founders Reflect on Growth, Purpose, and Entrepreneurship Beth Zotter and Amanda Stiles on Shark Tank (ABC/Christopher Willard) Co-founded by CTO Amanda Stiles (Cohort..

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Liminal—formerly Feasible—Raised an $8M Series A to Move Tech to Pilot Stage

In early April, Feasible, the battery manufacturing intelligence company co-founded by Cohort 2016 fellows Andrew Hsieh and Barry Van Tassell, announced an $8 million Series A..

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The Pivot to Purpose: The Climate Crisis is Invigorating a Workforce Focused on Climate Tech

Finding a job that directly addresses the climate crisis can be a powerful antidote to climate doom. The Great Engagement Check out our features on building a mission-driven..

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The Activate Fellowship Team is Charged Up

Once small and always mighty, our fellowship team has grown more than threefold in the past year. It’s energized and ready to welcome Cohort 2022 this summer. In early March, we..

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Finalists Share Visions of a Better Future

It starts with a gut feeling, an epiphany, or a slowly-simmering hunch. A scientist or engineer sees a throughline between a new or improved technology and a significant market..

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New Roles for Activate’s Aimee Rose and Randy Allen

Less than a year ago, Aimee Rose was one of Activate’s two managing directors, supporting 13 fellows in Boston. Today, she’s our inaugural executive managing director, overseeing..

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SiPA: ​​Streamlining the Path to Partnership

Early-stage science entrepreneurs looking to bring their scientific breakthroughs to market have an increasingly robust support ecosystem. Not only has Activate expanded to..

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