VentureWell has been selected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to receive a Phase One award to design an ocean-based climate resilience accelerator program. The approximately $250,000 award will fund a nine-month process of designing an accelerator program that helps ocean-based climate resilience startups overcome commercialization challenges. VentureWell is one of 16 awardees; these awards are funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, as part of President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda, and in alignment with the National Climate Resilience Framework.
Startups face specific challenges in bringing their technologies to market in this complex and highly regulated environment. VentureWell’s extensive lab-to-market experience and proven accelerator curriculum will allow it to design an accelerator program that helps entrepreneurs successfully navigate these troubled waters.
“The technical, regulatory, and market challenges of developing ocean-based solutions are significant, but the potential impact on climate resilience is outsized,” said Christina Tamer, vice president, Ventures, at VentureWell. “We are eager to do our part by designing a program that will uncover untapped potential and innovation and help bridge the gap from lab to market.”
The program will focus on startups and technologies that are supporting advancements in:
- Ocean renewable energy
- Coastal and ocean carbon sequestration monitoring and accounting
- Hazard mitigation and coastal resilience
- Ecosystem services, including change detection, change analysis (cause and effects), and change adaptation and/or mitigation
The accelerator program will help ocean-based climate resilience startups overcome commercialization challenges through comprehensive training, mentorship, access to expertise and resources, and connections to industry and customers. VentureWell is committed to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and accessibility and will prioritize opportunities for underrepresented entrepreneurs, design inclusive experiences, and elevate the need for all entrepreneurs to consider their impact on climate-vulnerable communities throughout the commercialization process.
“As we work to tackle climate change, public-private partnerships like the Ocean-Based Climate Resilience Accelerator program will help to catalyze innovation and empower entrepreneurs to develop new climate resilience technologies,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “This investment, made possible thanks to President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, will strengthen communities across our country by making sure small businesses have the tools and resources they need to address the climate crisis head on.”
Phase One award recipients will be invited to apply for a second phase of funding, which will award up to a total of $55 million for the implementation of up to five of the proposed accelerators designed during the first phase.
About VentureWell
VentureWell supports the cultivation of an emerging generation of science and technology inventors and the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems that are critical to their success. Since its founding in 1995, VentureWell has funded or trained over 16,000 science and technology inventors and innovators, resulting in the emergence of 3,600+ ventures with ground-breaking technological advancements in fields like biomedicine and healthcare, sustainable energy and materials, and solutions for low-resource settings. The startups they have supported have raised subsequent funds totaling over $5 billion and are reaching millions of people in 48 countries. Visit venturewell.org to learn more.