While 2020 will long be remembered for COVID-19, there are events to celebrate. This is a year to mark several milestone anniversaries. As we noted last month, MassCEC is celebrating 10 years of making an impact in the clean energy sector. We now call your attention to two other organizations celebrating achievements.
With it's mission "to find, fund, and foster entrepreneurs with ideas to solve our greatest environmental and energy challenges", the
Cleantech Open Northeast accelerator and business plan competition has been fulfilling that mission for the past 15 years.
The Clean Tech Open of New England is wrapping up its 2020 cohort in October. NSIV has continued its involvement with CTONE this year, as it has every year. Our Director of Mentoring, Trish Fleming, serves on the CTO Mentoring Committee and has been a mentor to a team out of Buffalo, NY that is designing the next generation of wind turbine blades. Tom Kinneman, our COO, is a mentor for a company that is producing green hydrogen (if you didn’t know, current hydrogen production is extremely “dirty”). NSIV works with CTONE to identify potential new members to our community – we’ve been fortunate to have several members that have gone through the Cleantech Open, including Crowd Comfort and Radical Plastics. “It is gratifying to see how far companies can advance in 12 weeks with the focused mentoring and structure of the CTO program, “ says Trish. “We see the potential in these companies as well as their potential impact. Plus, it’s fun!” A fun fact – Trish was part of the organizing team for the Ignite Clean Energy Competition back in 2005, which later became the Clean Tech Open.
We'd also like to share a brand new
info graphic celebrating the progress - it's a quick read that will give you lots of interesting facts and figures to think about.
ACTION Innovation Network, celebrating its 10th anniversary, uses the power of its network to drive its mission to "accelerate the success of early-stage technology entrepreneurs that are supported by our membership of collaborative workspace organizations", according to ACTION's website. This network of entrepreneur support organizations is dedicated to providing technology startups with support services that include specialized facilities for R&D, subsidized office space and administrative support, and assistance with research and patents. They help connect business with mentors and other professional services, and provide introductions to potential funding opportunities.
Follow ACTION on Twitter @ACTIONNE for information on upcoming webinars like this one on September 18th which covers what to consider when securing your first location in the Greater Boston Area as your company expands in the U.S. Get the details
here.
Last month we mentioned that the
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (
MassCEC) is celebrating its 10th Anniversary year and recommended that you take a look at their
Ten Year Impact Report here or download the PDF.
A few reflections on this colorful report from NSIV's Eric Yarmoff (introduced below)...
A lot has been accomplished both in reducing carbon emissions (equivalent to the energy usage of a quarter million MA homes or the action of 4.5 million trees) and juicing the Massachusetts economy (52,000 jobs added since 2010, an 86% increase over the prior period, enabling ~ $14 B Gross State Product); in so doing, putting the Massachusetts clean energy sector on very strong footing for its increasing role in the Commonwealth’s society. Indeed, by providing training and internships (which this writer credits with his current job and bright perspectives), catalyzing 46,000+ clean energy projects (from solar installations and heat pump upgrades, to the first U.S. offshore wind port), and attracting $2 billion of private and federal capital, MassCEC will enhance many aspects of our lives for years to come. Thank you so much!
The technology is explained on their website: "Items made from the Radical Plastics compound perform just like regular plastics. But if they end up in the environment, the free radical catalyst converts the plastic into a material that microbes recognize as food. This allows them to metabolize the material turning it into biomass, CO2 and water. Radical Plastics compounds biodegrade fully in the environment leaving no residue, no toxic substances and no microplastics."
He is well acquainted with the North Shore having family ties to Marblehead, where he now resides, and biking and hiking extensively in the area (He completed a through hike of the Bay Circuit Trail this spring and cycles into Boston often).
One of our former NSIV interns, 
This will be an intro to a few key concepts and meant to give businesses a place to ask real questions and get detailed answers about digital sales. For more information, and to register, click 
