By Anna Hagadorn, Greentown Labs Summer Intern

Greentown Labs is a unique and exciting place to be an intern: something different happens each time I come into work, and a day at Greentown has not finished unless I’ve learned something new and fascinating! 

One of the best perks about being a Greentown Intern has been the opportunity to speak with and learn from CEOs, engineers and entrepreneurs from all of our member companies. Completing daily operations duties and troubleshooting obstacles for startups kept me in constant contact with each of the companies, allowing me the chance to learn while at work. Since each of the companies are working on a different energy or environmental issue, there are endless questions an Environmental Science & Policy major such as myself can ask and have answered by the very people who are engineering solutions to the issues I study at Northeastern!

For example, in my environmental pollution class last year, I went on a field trip to a landfill, where I learned about responsible solid waste management, leachate collection and treatment, and landfill infrastructure. When I arrived at Greentown Labs this summer, I was thrilled to discover the company Loci Controls; they are creating a technology to maximize the collection of landfill gases that would otherwise pollute the air, which simultaneously increases the viability of landfill gas-to-energy generation. CEO and co-counder, Melinda Hale, and I chatted at length about increasing landfill sustainability, profitability and potential for alternative energy production. This is just one of countless conversations I had with entrepreneurs at Greentown about how their technologies make the planet a cleaner, safer, and more efficient place.

My role as part of the Greentown team primarily focused on establishing and implementing scaled-up operational procedures to maximize internal efficiency. Having grown from 25 to 46 member companies since September 2013, Greentown was in need of an operations overhaul at the beginning of the summer, and I was thrilled to be a part of that process! The projects I was assigned allowed me to gain broader insight into how an organization is structured to be a successful incubator, and compare operational, strategic, and financial differences between Greentown as an incubator, and its member startups. In addition to executing on operational projects, I was responsible for planning monthly events, strategically analyzing and maintaining both internal & external communication channels, managing high-profile visits of VIP delegations, and conducting tours of our unique facility in Somerville. 

For only a two-month internship, I was not expecting to accomplish so much. Since early July and in between trampoline breaks and scootering through the office, I have planned two successful events, attended several panel discussions and networking sessions, helped implement a new waste management policy at Greentown Labs and assisted in onboarding and off-boarding companies. I had the opportunity to meet with influential business leaders, local politicians, and brilliant entrepreneurs who are collaborating to advance and accelerate clean technology development. It has been fascinating to observe the process these startups go through and attempt to imagine how carefully crafted policies could incentivize more investment in incubator spaces, and how community programs could be structured to popularize adoption of sustainable clean technologies.

I feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to work at Greentown Labs and become a part of their community. Coming to work here each day and watching solutions come to life is inspiring in the face of often fatalist rhetoric confronted in the classroom surrounding climate change and the state of the environment. It’s encouraging to know that there is a brigade of highly driven and skilled entrepreneurs, engineers, executives and politicians working on these issues each day and forging a cleaner path to a more secure future.