Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator Announces Inaugural Cohort of Scalable Tech Track Program
August 20 2024 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
Ten multi-sectoral organizations seek to
overcome demand-side market barriers and increase the adoption of
late-stage clean technologies
The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN²), a $50 million clean
technology program funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and
co-administered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), announced today it selected 10
organizations to participate in the inaugural cohort of the new
Scalable Tech Track program for cleantech adoption.
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The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator
selected 10 organizations to participate in the inaugural cohort of
the new Scalable Tech Track program for cleantech adoption. (Photo:
Business Wire)
NREL and Wells Fargo founded IN² in August 2014 with an initial
focus on commercializing solutions that reduce the energy impact of
commercial buildings and later expanded its focus to advance
technologies that address the sustainable production of agriculture
and housing affordability. After 10 years of commercializing
emerging clean technologies, IN² is launching the Scalable Tech
Track, in collaboration with Overlay Build, to address demand-side
market barriers and increase widespread adoption of cleantech
solutions.
“Organizations are under increasing pressure to decarbonize,
facing significant costs and reputational risks if they fail to
act,” said Sarah Derdowski, IN² program manager at NREL. “Despite
these pressures, many organizations still aren’t adopting clean
technologies fast enough. The new Scalable Tech Track is designed
to help organizations accelerate cleantech adoption and collaborate
in an effort to address urgent climate challenges together.”
The Scalable Tech Track supports both corporations and
communities in the pursuit of sustainability goals by providing
practical implementation guidance and access to validated
technologies. IN² will assist participants with a comprehensive
approach to cleantech adoption that includes identifying pain
points, providing third-party validation from NREL, fostering
collaborative peer working groups, and building clearer pathways
for implementation, all while prioritizing equity and environmental
justice.
The inaugural cohort is comprised of organizations from across
the globe, spanning a variety of sectors and industries that share
the common goal of decarbonizing the built environment through
collaboration and innovation. The 10 companies and communities
selected include:
- Avangrid: Interested in continuing to build a culture of
innovation and scouting new technologies. Headquartered in Orange,
Connecticut.
- CBRE: Focused on solutions that simplify complexity, improve
efficiency, and accelerate the decarbonization of real estate
portfolios at scale. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
- Coconino County: Will develop and implement a comprehensive
school and district-based decarbonization plan to address climate
change through mitigation. Located in north central Arizona.
- Digital Realty: Committed to reducing their power consumption
and expanding their reach without expanding their carbon footprint
through technology. Headquartered in Austin, Texas.
- Galvanize Climate Solutions: A first-of-its-kind sustainable
real estate platform aiming to invest in well-located, high-quality
real estate to reduce the property’s carbon footprint, improve cash
flow, and increase asset values. Headquartered in San Francisco,
California and New York, New York.
- Intermountain Health: Strives to help people live the
healthiest lives possible by providing high-quality and affordable
healthcare while being a resilient health system with a large
footprint and sustainability goals. Headquartered in Salt Lake
City, Utah.
- Prime Data Centers: Seeks innovators that help create a world
that thrives, where technology and sustainability advance together.
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
- Schneider Electric: A global leader in electrification and
digitization for smart buildings and data centers, looks to provide
technologies to accelerate decarbonization in built environments.
U.S. headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts.
- Southern Company: The leading provider of clean, safe,
reliable, and affordable energy solutions for more than 9 million
customers with a goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
- The University of Colorado Boulder: Seeks to make its massive
building footprint, both old and new, carbon neutral by no later
than 2050.
The participating organizations will engage in a program from
August to December 2024 consisting of virtual and in-person
workshops, focused on how to implement new technologies in the
built environment through digitization and change management. By
the end of the program, the participants will have an in-depth
strategy on how to uptake new innovation and compete to receive up
to $250,000 to conduct pilot projects with IN² startups or others
based on their specific needs.
More information about the startups that will be matched with
each organization and the pilot projects will be announced in
January 2025. IN² is currently accepting applications from
cleantech startups ready for large-scale pilots with at least one
year of post-revenue traction.
“Wells Fargo is proud to support the expansion of the IN²
program to advance cleantech adoption,” said John Moon, senior vice
president and sustainable philanthropy leader at Wells Fargo.
“We’ve learned firsthand how valuable the types of pilot programs
that these organizations will undertake are by working with a
number of startups in the IN² portfolio. The participating
organizations will receive actionable steps and knowledge from the
experts at NREL to support them as sustainability leaders in their
respective industries.”
To learn more about IN², visit https://in2ecosystem.com/.
About the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN²)
The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN²) is a $50 million
clean technology program funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and
co-administered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National
Renewable Energy Laboratory. IN² advances clean technologies from
ideation to commercialization—validating emerging startups in the
built environment and infrastructure sectors while facilitating
connections with end users who receive practical implementation
guidance that supports their sustainability goals. IN²’s mission is
to foster innovation and accelerate the pace of market adoption of
clean technologies to address urgent climate challenges. For more
information, visit in2ecosystem.com.
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