Greentown Labs honored Mayor Joseph Curtatone with the first ever Greentown Labs Award at its Grand Opening & 3rd Birthday Celebration last night. More than 250 people turned celebrated the growth and progress of what has become the largest hardware-focused cleantech and energy-related incubator in the Northeast.

Emily Reichert, Executive Director, Greentown Labs, presented the award to the Mayor, and read its official language during the presentation ceremony:

The Annual Greentown Labs Award honors an individual who provides extraordinary leadership, energy, and action to strengthen the clean energy ecosystem. It is for an outstanding individual who recognizes the transformational potential of clean energy innovation and contributes to building its capacity with purpose and passion.

“The Mayor was an obvious choice for our inaugural award. He helped us find, fund, and feel welcome in our new larger headquarters in Somerville,” said Reichert. “When he and visited us last summer, he understood our potential – and our vision — when we were operating out of an unimproved, 100-year old basement in South Boston.”

The award recognizes the Mayor’s leadership in securing a $300,000 working capital loan. It was the first financial support that enabled Greentown Labs to sign a lease and jumpstarted the fundraising needed to build out an idle 33,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility. More than that, the Mayor meets regularly with Greentown member companies and is exploring ways that Somerville can be a laboratory for testing new energy efficiency and clean energy technologies, part of a longer term strategy to become a city with net zero energy emissions by 2050. Finally, the Mayor is a regular speaker at Greentown Labs events – whether it be for the annual DEMO Day, the annual Cleanweb Hackathon, or hosting other members of the community. He constantly encourages entrepreneurs to address climate and energy problems with passion and innovation.