Activate Updates: January 2024

This Month's Features

Parenting and Pioneering in STEM Innovation
Cyrus Wadia on Everybody in the Pool with Molly Wood

Plus

Activate Fellow wins
Ecosystem news
Job opportunities

Parenting and Pioneering in STEM Innovation

Parenting and entrepreneurship are both transformative and highly demanding journeys, and many Activate Fellows embark on them simultaneously. How do they balance both? How do the roles of science entrepreneur and parent intersect and even complement one another?

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Cyrus Wadia, Activate’s new CEO, joined journalist Molly Wood on the Everybody in the Pool podcast to discuss the role of science leaders in advancing the technology breakthroughs we need to combat the worst effects of climate change. Beyond entrepreneurship, Wadia posits that science experts should have seats at the tables where important decisions are made—and that organizations like Activate can help emerging science leaders hone their systemic expertise.

Activate Fellow-founded companies Umaro (Amanda Stiles, Cohort 2020, Cyclotron Road) and HOPO Therapeutics (Julian Rees, Cohort 2023, Cyclotron Road) have teamed up to extract rare earth elements from seaweed. With a $1.78M grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s ARPA-E program, this partnership will leverage Umaro’s expertise in seaweed and HOPO’s expertise in chelation in order to develop a more sustainable supply chain for rare earth elements.

The DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions announced support for five Activate Fellow companies as part of a $9.8M voucher program to fund clean-energy technologies: AeroShield (Elise Strobach and Kyle Wilke, Cohort 2020), Osmoses (Francesco Benedetti and Holden Lai, Cohort 2021), Electrified Thermal Solutions (Joey Kabel and Dan Stack, Cohort 2021), Banyu Carbon (Alex Gagnon and Julian Sachs, Cohort 2023), and Vycarb (Garrett Boudinot, Cohort 2022).

The Cleantech Group named several Activate Fellow companies on its 2024 Global Cleantech 100 list: Fervo Energy (Tim Latimer and Jack Norbeck, Cohort 2018, Cyclotron Road), Liminal (Andrew Hsieh and Barry Van Tassell, Cohort 2016, Cyclotron Road), Brimstone (Cody Finke, Cohort 2019, Cyclotron Road), Sublime Systems (Leah Ellis, Cohort 2020), and Twelve (Etosha Cave and Kendra Kuhl, Cohort 2015, Cyclotron Road).

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

Upcoming Events

Activate chief financial officer and co-founder Matt Price will be speaking at McKinsey’s Green Building Business North America Summit, which will take place February 12-13 in San Francisco. Register your interest to attend.
Activate will be at this year’s SXSW! Join us March 8-16 for a podcast series where we’ll dive into inspiring discussions covering innovative pathways for philanthropies in climate-tech solutions, a comprehensive overview of the burgeoning field of climate-tech startups, and adaptive VC strategies that fuel future climate-tech innovations. Stay tuned for more details on speakers and topics.
The MIT Energy Conference will take place March 11-12 in Boston. With an expert lineup of panelists and speakers, and attendees ranging from industry and innovative startups to NGOs and venture capital, this conference will offer networking opportunities and discussions on the energy and innovation technologies of tomorrow.
The Industry Growth Forum, hosted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, will take place in Denver, CO, from May 1-3. The conference will convene over 200 industry experts, investors, and startups working to advance clean-tech innovation. Use code CP10 to get 10 percent off registration.
We're excited to announce that Activate is an official partner of CarbonUnbound USA, a leadership summit happening May 21-23 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. Tickets are available now.

Relevant Opportunities

Applications for the 2024 Cleantech Open Accelerator open tomorrow, February 1, and will be accepted on a rolling basis through April 14. The accelerator provides expert mentors, investor networking opportunities, industry connections, and a chance to compete regionally and nationally for cash prizes and in-kind services.
Elemental Excelerator is accepting applications for its summer 2024 EDICT Internships, a ten-week immersive program designed to help students gain work experience at climate organizations. Applications are due February 5.
Applications are open through February 9 for the TEX-E Prize, a multi-round startup competition for Texas students with climate-tech solutions hosted in partnership with the Houston Energy Transition Initiative and the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship. Winners will receive a total of $50K in cash prizes.
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.

Activate Voices

The DOE’s Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office announced $171M for 49 projects to reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions and move the nation closer to a net-zero economy. Several Activate Fellow-founded companies receiving this federal funding: Sublime Systems (Leah Ellis, Cohort 2020), ReSource Chemical Corp. (Aanindeeta Banerjee, Cohort 2020, Cyclotron Road), Electrified Thermal Solutions (Joey Kabel and Daniel Stack, Cohort 2021), and Noble Thermodynamic Systems, Inc. (Miguel Sierra Aznar, Cohort 2018, Cyclotron Road). Together, these companies will receive more than $21M to advance their technologies.
Leah Ellis (Sublime Systems, Cohort 2020) took the stage during the World Economic Forum in Davos, speaking during the Climate Lighting Talks session and highlighting leading solutions for a sustainable future.
Antonio Baclig (Inlyte Energy, Cohort 2021, Cyclotron Road) appeared on the Climate Now podcast to discuss virtual power plants and next-gen batteries.
Julie Liang (Opera Bioscience, Cohort 2023) co-authored an op-ed for the Journal of Science Policy and Governance recommending a policy approach to bridging the gap in undergraduate experiential learning and ultimately building a better bioeconomy workforce.
Amid increasing interest in perovskite technologies, Tandem PV (Colin Bailie and Chris Eberspacher, Cohort 2016, Cyclotron Road) raised an additional $6M, bringing its total to $27M in venture capital and government support.

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

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