News

Greentown Boston Climatetech Summit Dives Deep on Climatetech Commercialization

by Reena Karasin

Greentown Boston’s 2022 Climatetech Summit explored collaborative pathways for deployment, the wide-reaching opportunities presented by the Inflation Reduction Act, the importance of centering equity in Massachusetts’ climate action, and more.

The event featured a speaking program with leaders from across climate technology, finance, policy, and justice, alongside a startup showcase that offered attendees the chance to network with our incredible Greentown Boston startups!

Check out the day at Greentown Boston:

Greentown Boston’s Climatetech Summit kicked off with opening remarks from Axios Pro Climate Deals Reporter Alan Neuhauser, the event’s emcee, and Greentown CEO Emily Reichert. Emily shared information about Greentown startups’ impressive accomplishments and shared some of the key gaps that exist in the climatetech industry, including access to capital; access to customers and opportunities for deployment; and access to talent.

From there, Anthony Pannozzo, Head of frog North America at frog (part of Capgemini Invent) teed up the first panel of the day: “Infrastructure, Equity, and the Path Toward Collaborative Deployment.”

Throughout 2022, we’ve seen groundbreaking climate policy enacted at both the federal level and on Beacon Hill—all while investors continue to back climatetech, despite economic uncertainties. This panel dove into how we can convert all of this momentum into rapid commercialization while investing in infrastructure; prioritizing underserved communities throughout Massachusetts; and fostering an equitable workforce that’s ready to deploy climate solutions and can benefit from the industry’s economic opportunities.

Speakers included: 

Next up was the first set of lightning pitches from Greentown startups:

  • Zero, whose automation software enables hassle-free home retrofits to improve comfort and eliminate emissions. 
  • SolarKal, which is the largest solar energy marketplace in the U.S and connects  organizations to solar providers that compete for their business.
  • Mantel, which is developing a novel liquid phase carbon capture material that operates at high temperatures.
  • GenH, which is developing a rapidly deployable, fully modular system to electrify non-powered dams and canal heads without construction or investment in any fixed infrastructure. 
  • Skytree, whose CO₂ filter scrubs CO₂ and water directly from the air. The Captured CO₂ can later be utilized in the production of fuels, chemicals, building materials, carbon farming, and other products. 

Then was “The IRA IRL: What Groundbreaking Federal Legislation Means for Climatetech Commercialization.” The panel highlighted the huge opportunities for deployment, investment, and job creation introduced by the Inflation Reduction Act, with a focus on what they mean for climatetech entrepreneurship and adoption.

The panel featured:

The second set of startup lightning pitches featured:

  • AdaViv, which has a machine-vision-based solution that helps growers maximize their profits by improving crop performance and minimizing the operational costs per cycle.
  • MicroEra Power, the developer and emerging manufacturer of THERMAplus, a hardware and software solution for smart thermal energy storage for buildings. 
  • Sol Clarity, whose electrodynamic screen keeps solar panels clean from dust and dirt.
  • Raise Green, a crowdfunding climatetech investing portal for community-driven project finance.
  • AeroShield Materials, which develops super-insulating, transparent inserts for windows, bringing state-of-the-art thermal comfort and energy savings into buildings at an affordable price.

The next panel featured perspectives from an investor-startup collaboration—offering a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most important relationships in a startup’s journey and what best practices both founders and investors can follow to keep things moving smoothly.

Speakers included:

The final round of startup pitches highlighted Greentown members:

  • Bodhi, whose software platform empowers solar companies to deliver amazing customer experiences with ease, automating communication and personalizing the homeowners’ experience.
  • EnviroPower, whose high-efficiency heating system is designed with a seamlessly integrated, closed-loop micro turbine.
  • MoveEV, an electric vehicle benefits, education, and adoption platform that helps businesses mitigate their Scope 1 & Scope 3 emissions while providing cost savings opportunities for their employees.
  • Spare-it, a digital waste-reduction engagement platform.
  • H2Ok Innovations, an IoT analytics platform providing comprehensive real-time visibility into industrial liquid systems to enable data-driven optimized operations.

We were thrilled to have Hannah Jones, CEO of The Earthshot Prize, join us in conversation with Greentown Labs CEO Emily Reichert! Hannah spoke about ways to accelerate climatetech deployment and commercialization to meet the urgency of the climate crisis.

To wrap up the speaking portion of the summit, Browning the Green Space Board President Kerry Bowie and Greentown CEO Emily Reichert gave closing remarks. They also shared a big announcement: that Greentown and Browning the Green Space are partnering to run the Advancing Climatetech and Clean Energy Leaders Program (ACCEL), an accelerator to support BIPOC-led startups and foster equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice in the climatetech industry. 

After lunch came one of our favorite parts of the Climatetech Summit: the Startup Showcase, an opportunity for attendees to speak directly with our climatetech entrepreneurs and make valuable connections. Learn about our startups innovating across the key greenhouse-gas-emitting sectors—electricity, agriculture, buildings, manufacturing, and transportation—and on resiliency and adaptation.

During the showcase, Capgemini—the Climatetech Summit Champion Sponsor—hosted an interactive workshop on using human-centric design to scale climatetech.

The Greentown Boston Climatetech Summit wrapped up with an impactful evening of networking. We were amazed and inspired by the collaborative climate action that took place at the summit—and know this is just the beginning of new, valuable connections across the climatetech ecosystem. We’d like to send a huge thank you to the speakers, startups, corporate leaders, investors, and other climate champions who joined us!