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.
A Note to the Boston Climate-Tech Community as We Enter Adulthood
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?
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.
Activate’s Commitment to Science Leaders: An Interview with our CEO
We sit down with our new CEO, Cyrus Wadia, to discuss his history with our organization, his vision for Activate’s future, and how our fellows continue to create impact beyond the companies they build.
Catie McVey Is Helping Cattle Farmers Build More Resilient Cows
Catie McVey (DairyFIT, Cohort 2023) is using livestock data analytics to build more resilient cows. These cows can withstand the volatility of climate change, and in turn, unlock greener farming practices. Her innovations are deeply rooted in North Carolina, where she grew up and recently returned.
Activate Opens 2024 Fellowship Applications During Climate Week NYC
Today, Activate announced that applications are open for their 2024 cohort, starting September 19 and closing October 17, 2023. The window to apply begins during Climate Week NYC, at the tail end of the hottest summer ever on record, where Activate Fellows and partners will be presenting hard-tech solutions to our most pressing decarbonization challenges and beyond.
Activate Welcomes Cyrus Wadia as New Chief Executive Officer
Activate’s new CEO brings impressive science, business, and government experience to deliver impact at scale.
Experiencing Climate Solutions in New York City
After living through the hottest summer on record, leaders from across sectors and the world will gather at Climate Week NYC from September 17–24 to accelerate climate action. Activate is hosting or sponsoring a series of thought-leadership-driven gatherings during the week, including a showcase of Activate Fellow technologies followed by a fireside chat between Evelyn Wang, Director of ARPA-E, and climate journalist and former Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood.
One Activate Fellow’s Journey From Scientist to Founder to Venture Capitalist
Josué López (Cohort 2020) is modeling a new kind of success story as the first Activate Fellow alum to become a venture capitalist. An MIT-trained electrical engineer and nanoscientist, López founded Kyber Photonics, a chip-scale semiconductor company building sensors for autonomy, which he led for two-and-a-half years. Now he’s enriching the innovation ecosystem in a new way, bringing his experience as a technologist, science entrepreneur, and diversity and equity leader to venture capital.
How to Really Invest in Founders’ Success
The Journey to Well-Being: A series on mental health and the unique demands of entrepreneurship
Paramedics. Social workers. Soldiers. Those are the kinds of roles you might associate with workplace trauma. But as we’ve explored in parts one and two in this “Journey to Well-being” series, being a founder comes with a significant emotional weight that should not be ignored.
States Step up to Fund Innovation and the Transition to a Sustainable Future
In pursuing our mission of empowering brilliant minds to solve some of the biggest challenges in our collective history, Activate works with various entities, including the U.S. government, private funders, philanthropies, and state governments to achieve these goals. We are proud and grateful to note that all of our geographic communities in Berkeley, Boston, and New York (not including our recently announced Houston location) now receive support from state governments that provide funding for scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs at the local level to drive climate-tech innovation.