Innovate UK, the Urban Future Lab, and Greentown Labs announce the Year 4 cohort for their Global Incubator Programme

Commencing in January, the Urban Future Lab (UFL) at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, in collaboration with Greentown Labs, will serve as the supportive entry point in the U.S. for the fourth cohort of Innovate UK’s Global Incubator Programme: Clean Growth edition. This initiative is specifically designed to foster and assist the establishment of innovative climate technology companies demonstrating significant potential for international scalability into new markets.

The annual program extends the opportunity to eight U.K.-based businesses, enabling them to explore the U.S. market and gain access to esteemed mentors over a six-month period. 

"We’re excited to welcome these eight promising UK climatetech startups to New York and serve as a landing pad, helping them enter the US market and unlock more capital,” said Frederic Clerc, interim Managing Director at Urban Future Lab NYU Tandon. “Through the Global Incubator Programme, we ensure that scalable climate solutions that already have found product-market fit in another geography can be deployed and have an impact here in the US as fast as possible. Another benefit from this program is gaining access to NYU Tandon's Sustainability Engineering Initiative, which harnesses the power of academic institutions in sustainable innovation."

The selected companies for this year are:

• Bohr: Provides digital sensor solutions enabling green, fair, profitable gas
• Catagen: Pioneering green emissions testing facility based in Belfast providing unrivaled metrics to optimize catalyst development and reduce harmful tailpipe emissions
• Envirovue: Optimizing waste and resource management by leveraging data analytics
• GreenSpur Wind: Developer of a rare earth-free generator addressing critical materials supply chain risk for use within the wind and tidal markets
• Jet Connectivity: Provider of communications for offshore wind farms, for both the survey installation and commissioning phase and to provide resilience to fiber optic failures
• Juice Serve: The only truly seamless payments experience for EV drivers
• Qualis Flow: Decarbonizing construction through a photograph: tracking materials and waste for cost, quality and carbon control.
• Twipes: Truly flushable and biodegradable wet wipes

On January 22, 2024, this year’s cohort arrived in New York for their first intensive workshop. Startups from previous years have successfully expanded their operations into the U.S., capitalizing on the robust mentorship opportunities, connections to potential customers, and a targeted, strategic curriculum offered by the Global Incubator Programme. These innovative companies have effectively established a presence in both the New York and national markets.

The favorable tailwinds of federal, state, and local policies such as the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act), CLCPA (Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act), and Justice 40, combined with the Urban Future Lab's connections to funding and ecosystem partnerships, experience in supporting startups with customer discovery, and background knowledge in DEI/JEDI, are pivotal in tailoring a six-month program that positions international companies for success. This initiative is crucial for advancing the clean economy, fostering international collaboration in addressing climate change, and promoting local job creation in New York City.

“As part of the Global Incubator Programme 2022 cohort to the US, the support provided has enabled us to identify key markets and market assessment approaches for our innovative and market leading thermal batteries which has significantly aided our expansion into North America,” said William Edrich, Global Head of C&I, Sunamp.   

“Our substantial progress moving into the North American market stemmed from our participation in the second cohort of the Global Incubator Program (GIP). Despite disruptions to the travel program due to the COVID-19 pandemic, UFL seized the opportunity to enhance our preparations for future travel, emphasizing initial remote engagement. Integrating our visit to Brooklyn, we extended company engagements across New York State and Ontario, Canada, leveraging resources provided by the GIP. Post-program completion, ongoing commercial discussions with major North American companies have persisted, and we anticipate commencing trading in the third quarter of this year,” said Will Maden, COO & Co-Founder, Fuuse Limited.

“We are delighted to continue our relationship with the Urban Future Lab in collaboration with Greentown Labs to support UK organizations selected as part of Innovate UK’s Global Incubator Programme,” said Jon Hazell, Partnership Manager - North America and Global Incubator,  Innovate UK. 

“We’re proud to welcome the fourth cohort of Innovate UK’s Global Incubator Programme to the United States,” said Greentown Labs CEO and President Kevin Knobloch. “As a global challenge, climate change requires global action, collaboration, and rapid deployment of solutions. It’s thrilling to see the dynamic mix of innovations this cohort of startups is developing, and we’re eager to help them thrive here in the U.S. and beyond.”

“It’s great to be back in New York, and I’m excited to see how this programme with Innovate UK and the Urban Future Lab accelerates our growth in the US and helps us decarbonise one of the world’s most pollutive industries: Construction,” said Brittany Harris, Co-founder and CEO, Qualis Flow.

About Innovate UK

Innovate UK is the UK’s national innovation agency. We support business-led innovation in all sectors, technologies and UK regions. We help businesses grow through the development and commercialisation of new products, processes, and services, supported by an outstanding innovation ecosystem that is agile, inclusive, and easy to navigate. For further information, visit: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/innovate-uk 

About the Urban Future Lab

The Urban Future Lab at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering is a non-profit innovation hub for best-in-class climate tech startups with a focus on clean energy and sustainable urban infrastructure solutions. ​It is home to  ACRE, New York’s longest-running climate tech incubator, Clean Start, an advanced certificate from NYU for people seeking a transition into the climate tech sector, the Carbon to Value Initiative, Low-Carbon Hydrogen Accelerator, and Offshore Wind Innovation Hub, which brings innovative technologies and solutions to industry leaders, and the Innovate UK Global Incubator Programme, which supports market entry in the US for UK based climate tech startups that can effectively scale and support the clean growth goals of New York State. For more information about UFL, visit ufl.nyc and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram. For more information about NYU Tandon, visit engineering.nyu.edu.

About Greentown Labs

Greentown Labs is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit catalyzing climate solutions through entrepreneurship, partnership, and collaboration. As the largest climatetech startup incubator in North America, Greentown brings together startups, corporates, investors, policymakers, and many others with a focus on scaling climate technologies. Driven by the mission of providing startups the community, connections, and resources they need to thrive, Greentown offers lab space, shared office space, machine shops, electronics labs, tool shops, software and business resources, and a large network of corporate customers, investors, and more. With incubators in Somerville, Mass. and Houston, Texas, Greentown is home to more than 200 startups and has supported more than 500 since the incubator’s founding in 2011. These startups have collectively created more than 11,000 jobs and raised more than $5.7 billion in funding. For more information, visit www.greentownlabs.com or follow Greentown on LinkedIn.