Fiscal Year 2023 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center
In 2023, NREL's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (IEC) took a hard look at the barriers and challenges facing some of the most difficult-to-decarbonize sectors. With our partners we discussed, planned, and built new cohorts, convenings, and network opportunities to tackle those challenges head-on. Join us and our entire ecosystem in celebrating 2023, where we continued to advance the commercialization of economically viable, clean technologies.
Director, NREL Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center
Stepping Into the Future
Our sights are set on constructing collaborative innovation spaces for startups, convening spaces for our networks, and demonstration areas for technologies, such as building retrofits, to take the critical steps needed to gain market proof and trust. The South Table Mountain Energy Park campus, with the state of Colorado's adjacent Global Energy Park, will serve as our future home for the next generation of our entrepreneurial programming.
Photo: During U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm's May 2023 visit to NREL, IEC Director Trish Cozart showed off the South Table Mountain Energy Park, a future hub for innovators to develop and commercialize technologies.
State of Innovation
Working from our unique vantage point between research and industry, we delivered the 2023 State of Innovation, a white paper featuring data and analysis on technology sectors primed for private investment: hydrogen, carbon capture, geothermal energy, and industrial decarbonization.
By comparing DOE federal funding for basic R&D with private funding—including angel, venture capital (VC), mergers and acquisitions, and private equity—for energy technology startups, we identified key public-to-private funding transitions that indicate a sector is ready to push a startup's technologies to market.
Funding Volumes for Solar Projects:
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| 2018 |
| 2022 |
Funding Volumes for Hydrogen Projects:
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| 2022 |
Funding Volumes for Geothermal Projects:
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Funding Volumes for Carbon Capture Projects:
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Startup Portfolio
Startup Portfolio Highlights
Photo from BlocPower
BlocPower was honored by Vice President Harris and raised nearly $155 million in the fundraising round, led by large investments from Microsoft and Goldman Sachs.
Photo from SPAN
SPAN earned $96 million in new Series B funding to accelerate product innovation.
Photo from Running Tide
Running Tide delivered first-ever carbon-removal credits from an open ocean project for its customer, Shopify.
Photo by NREL
Shifted Energy worked with partners in Nova Scotia and Arizona to equip households with innovative water heater-control modules.
Photo from Babur Ozden
Aquanta Vision Technologies was featured in Houston publication InnovationMap for advancing to Phase 2 of Chevron Studio.
Photo from Resonant Link
Resonant Link was recognized on the 2023 Inc. 5000 energy list of fastest-growing companies and won an Innovation by Design award from Fast Company.
Photo from Liminal Insights
Liminal Insights raised $17.5 million in Series A2 funding to scale its EchoStat inspection systems.
Photo by NREL
Tereform won an H&M Foundation Global Change Award in recognition of planet-positive fashion future innovations.
2023 Portfolio Companies
Fifteen companies and innovators joined IEC programs in Fiscal Year 2023.
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DTE Materials converts agricultural and forest waste into sustainable, carbon-negative construction materials.
Hexas Biomass created a nature-based alternative for wood, food crops, and fossil fuel-based feedstocks for biofuel production.
Invizyne Technologies is a cell-free enzyme platform that enhances biomass conversions, vastly improving the economics of bio-based chemical production.
ZILA Bioworks developed a bio-epoxy resin from hemp seed oil that has a 60% smaller carbon footprint than petroleum-based epoxies.
Habiterre uses a system-of-systems approach to create a holistic picture of farm production systems and performance, improving emissions, water use, yield, and more.
Impetus Ag is developing next-gen crop insect control products with an eco-friendly platform that enhances the performance of current biological products.
Impossible Sensing boosts soil management, merging in-situ sensors with regular farming operations to maximize land potential and improve profitability through sustainable practices.
InnerPlant develops seed technology to tap into plants' natural response pathways and code crops to communicate specific stresses via easy-to-collect optical signals.
Mirai Solar's photovoltaic shade screen technology enables sustainable, large-scale agriculture by empowering net zero-energy food production facilities with lower operating costs than current alternatives.
Running Tide designs and develops integrated systems to deploy nature-based interventions that remove carbon, combat ocean acidification, and increase the scientific understanding of ocean ecosystems.
Sentinel Fertigation leverages remote sensing and geospatial data to empower precision nitrogen management, particularly for farmers who fertigate.
Aquanta Vision pioneers a new category of software to simplify and expedite the accurate detection of methane emissions in optical gas imaging.
Colorado Earth LLC expands the use of building materials by creating micro-manufacturing sites for compressed earth blocks, a low-carbon masonry unit that minimizes the need for cement.
Sustainable Chemicals is developing a family of renewable, biodegradable plastics that will help decarbonize the plastic industry and reduce the amount of plastic in oceans and waterways.
Olokun Minerals addresses global clean water security by diverting brine waste from the ocean and providing treatment services for desalination, oilfields, mining facilities, and industrial wastewater.
Convening: Partnering To Move Faster
Investing and Innovating in Hard-to-Decarbonize Sectors
Cement and Concrete Workshop
In July 2023, we gathered nearly 100 stakeholders across the low-carbon cement and concrete industry—including researchers, startups, investors, developers, and industry incumbents—for a half-day workshop to discuss opportunities and challenges around bringing low-carbon solutions to market at scale. NREL facilitated dialogue and action across sectors, uncovered industry needs to inform innovation, and explored ways to help implement emerging solutions in the real world. As an applied lab, NREL sits between academia and industry to fully bridge the gap from foundational science research and examine the feasibility of market applications. This stakeholder group will meet again in 2024 to continue accelerating progress.
Innovation Showcase
We convened a select group of startups, industry, and investors to learn about and discuss lesser-funded climate solutions with large CO₂-reduction potential. Though venture capital investment in climate solutions is growing, those investments are not proportional to certain sectors' reduction potential. As a backdrop to the event, we highlighted an 8-year PricewaterhouseCoopers analysis of 15 technology areas. The study shows that five of the areas represented more than 80% of future emissions-reduction potential by 2050, but received just 25% of climate-tech investments. We also highlighted that by 2050, almost half of global CO₂ emissions reductions must come from technologies that are currently only at the demonstration or prototype phase. The event featured researchers and startups who are working in many of these lesser-funded areas—cement, steel, hydrogen, agriculture, and circularity—and how they are preparing to address these challenges.
Held May 1–3, 2023, in Denver, Colorado, the 28th Industry Growth Forum (IGF) provided a venue where investment meets innovation. The sold-out event–themed Faster Smarter, More Connected–featured startups and investors focused on the future of climate technology and the opportunities they bring to the market. View the IGF Highlight Video.
Industry Growth Forum Attending Startup Categories
Recent history of IGF-attending startups across technology categories shows an increase in nascent and emerging technology sectors, such as climate management and industrial manufacturing.
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electricity – All Other | 43% | 30% | 34% | 17% |
| Electricity – Energy Storage | 15% | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| Materials and Industrial Manufacturing | 12% | 16% | 13% | 14% |
| Fuels and Chemicals | 4% | 7% | 9% | 11% |
| Built Environment | 9% | 10% | 9% | 13% |
| Transportation and Mobility | 5% | 9% | 4% | 9% |
| Climate Management | 4% | 5% | 5% | 8% |
| Enabling Technologies | 4% | 4% | 7% | 8% |
| Agriculture, Food, and Land Use | 3% | 1% | 1% | 4% |
IGF Attending Startup Verticals, 2020-2023
| Agriculture | 3% | 1% | 1% | 4% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate Management | 4% | 5% | 5% | 8% |
| Enabling Technologies | 4% | 4% | 7% | 8% |
| Transportation and Mobility | 5% | 9% | 4% | 9% |
| Fuels and Chemicals | 4% | 7% | 9% | 11% |
| Built Environment | 9% | 10% | 9% | 13% |
| Materials and Industrial Manufacturing | 12% | 16% | 13% | 14% |
| Electricity - Energy Storage | 15% | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| Electricity - All Other | 43% | 30% | 34% | 17% |
Programs: Moving Technology Forward
IEC programs provide solutions to suit our partners' needs by identifying gaps preventing innovations from getting to market or preventing market growth.
The Shell GameChanger Accelerator Powered by NREL
This year Shell and the GCxN team recommitted their partnership and will increase cohort companies receiving technology incubation and expand their ecosystem support through NREL over the next several years. Cohort 6 (pictured) celebrated at its onboarding event this year on the NREL campus.
The program reached the $2 billion mark in follow-on capital raised by the 72 companies in the portfolio. IN² also brought on seven new agricultural technology companies into Cohort 12.
GCxN added four companies to its portfolio, bringing it to 23, topped $500 million in follow-on capital raised, and gained 500 employees.
West Gate welcomed its first two cohorts and supported the growth of their cleantech companies as they collectively raised more than $6 million and hired 13 people.
Chevron Studio funded two discovery phase cohorts and has three entrepreneurs participating in the scale-up phase.
24 teams participated in Energy I-Corps, representing eight national labs and technologies ranging from nuclear to wave power to wind.
CECA concluded technical assessment of Cohort 1 solutions and was an important element of the White House's National Cybersecurity Strategy.
Twelve Canadian companies participated in two cohorts and the program awarded five 40-hour technical assistance projects.
G-PST helped system operators to increase their ability to operate with increasing shares of variable renewable energy and developed a framework to roadmap the control room of the future.
The program remodeled to a cohort-based program and awarded 20 projects in two cohorts. Three IGF winners are utilizing the program to work with NREL researchers.
NREL awarded 56% of all subcontracts to small businesses. NREL exceeded DOE goals under several socioeconomic categories.
Networks: Investing in Relationships
- Mark Austin, Chandler Reed
- Meghan Bader, Breakthrough Energy
- Dan Baldi, Silicon Valley Bank
- Cindi Bough, OGCI
- Michael Bruce, Emerson Collective
- Sam Bursten, Energy Impact Partners
- Daniel Carter, Aramco Ventures
- Naynika Chaubey, Evok Innovations
- Henry Chung, Independent
- Matt Cohen, Clean Energy Ventures
- James Diaz-Sokoloff, AP Ventures
- Scott Dupcak, MyPower Corp/Mitsui & Co
- Kevin Eggers, AP Ventures
- Tom Erickson, Imperative Ventures
- Greg Fleming, AirLiquide Venture Capital
- Mark Frayman, Orion Industrial Ventures
- Nikhil Garg, Spring Lane Capital
- Gerd Goette, Cycle Capital Management
- Ashley Grosh, Breakthrough Energy
- Vikas Gupta, Shell Ventures
- Chris Haase, Aramco Ventures
- Sheeraz Haji, Zipdragon Ventures
- Mary Hayes, BHP Ventures
- Allison Hinckley, Fine Structure Ventures
- Heesuk Jung, SK Discovery
- Christina Karapataki, Breakthrough Energy Ventures
- Alicia Lenis, Chrysalix Venture Capital
- Michelle Li, Hyundai Cradle
- Veery Maxwell, Galvanize Climate Solutions
- Brandon Middaugh, Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund
- Pulakesh Mukherjee, Imperative Ventures
- Allison Myers, Buoyant Ventures
- Bob O'Connor, Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati
- Puon Penn, Naga Climate
- Scott Pinizzotto, ENGIE New Ventures
- Daniela Proske, bp Ventures
- Maryanna Saenko, Future Ventures
- Patrick Sagisi, Iolar Ventures
- John Scull, Southern Cross Venture Partners
- Matt Servatius, Wells Fargo Bank
- Tim Singer, bp Ventures
- Rachel Slaybaugh, DCVC
- Ryan Smith, Zoma Capital
- Josh Su, BHP Ventures
- Kyle Teamey, RA Capital
- Caitlin Walsh, CPP Investments
- Phoebe Wang, Amazon Climate Pledge Fund
- Milo Werner, The Engine
- Tim Woodward, Prelude Ventures
Investor Advisory Board
NREL's Investor Advisory Board provides an important link between the laboratory and the cleantech and climate-tech investment community, with almost 50 influential firms participating. Regular meetings in 2023 focused on how electrification is driving a critical minerals transition, with conversations connecting the investors with NREL, university experts, and innovative startups.
Channel Partner Network
Seven winners in the sixth cycle of the IN² Channel Partner Strategic Awards completed their efforts to address gaps in the cleantech ecosystem and eliminate barriers for startups on their road to commercialization. Many awardees sought to improve support for underrepresented entrepreneurs; examples included:
- Designing more inclusive application processes (FORGE)
- Programming to support the development of minority-owned startups (Browning the Greenspace)
- Collaborating with minority-serving institutions for more inclusive pitch competitions (Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship).
Entrepreneurs
This year, 71 entrepreneurs, teams, and startup companies accessed our world-class facilities and brain trust as part of our programming to propel them closer to market impact. Forty more applied and presented on stage at the Industry Growth Forum.
West Gate has provided BrightSpot Automation with critical support to win new grants, great publicity to stimulate sales, and research support to advance our product development.
Through GCxN, we are performing advanced mechanical and process manufacturing testing of Zila's bioresin formulated for large wind turbine blades to continue through the material qualification process for the clean energy sector.
IGF is an indispensable gathering for startups with breakthrough solutions in the cleantech industry. Connecting with our peers, investors, and energy experts in the building space was inspiring. The rigorous competition gave us significant visibility in the media and momentum with new investors.
The Wells Fargo IN² program has opened new doors for Running Tide to advance conversations about carbon markets standardization, increase our visibility on the collaborative landscape, and broaden our research ideation.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center Team
Media
The following Fiscal Year 2023 podcasts, videos, and publications feature insights from our team.
Podcasts
Invested In Climate podcast
Redefining Energy Tech podcast
Insider's Guide to Energy podcast
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