Media inquiries: communications@activate.org

Keep up with news from Activate by subscribing to our newsletter.

From Bright Ideas to Hard Lessons: Insights from My Cleantech Startup Journey
houston, 2024 Guest User houston, 2024 Guest User

From Bright Ideas to Hard Lessons: Insights from My Cleantech Startup Journey

In the early 2000s, I worked as a mechanical engineer developing solar trackers and concentrators for a startup. Our goal? To build a commercially viable rooftop tracking solar concentrator. We had a team of tremendously smart and talented people who devised some clever and innovative designs. In our eyes, we were poised for success.

The only problem was that all that shine made us go a little blind. We didn’t realize we were about to stumble into some hard lessons—all of which I’m about to share.

Read More
2023 By the Numbers
Guest User Guest User

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.

Read More
A Note to the Boston Climate-Tech Community as We Enter Adulthood
Leanna Yu Leanna Yu

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? 

Read More
COP28: To Meet Climate Targets, We Need Science Entrepreneurs
Leanna Yu Leanna Yu

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.

Read More
Catie McVey Is Helping Cattle Farmers Build More Resilient Cows
Leanna Yu Leanna Yu

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.

Read More
Experiencing Climate Solutions in New York City
Guest User Guest User

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.

Read More
One Activate Fellow’s Journey From Scientist to Founder to Venture Capitalist
Guest User Guest User

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.

Read More
How to Really Invest in Founders’ Success
Guest User Guest User

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.

Read More
States Step up to Fund Innovation and the Transition to a Sustainable Future
Guest User Guest User

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.

Read More