Activate Updates: August 2022

Activate Updates

Aug 15

Written By Leanna Yu

08/15/2022

Ch-ch-changes

Activate is in the transformation business. We work with partners and funders to support and guide fellows as they reinvent themselves through science innovation. One of the enduring lessons we’ve learned as a people-first organization, however, is that transformations never end. They evolve. That’s as true for the fellows as it is for Activate. This month, we’re highlighting a few significant evolutions–one of which is bittersweet, but all of which are signs of growth–within our community.

First: The bittersweet. Today marks our founding CEO Ilan Gur’s final day with Activate. To mark the occasion, we’re sharing his farewell letter to the fellows.
Second: The next stage. We are incredibly lucky to have board member Todd Johnson, who’s been here since Activate was an idea on a whiteboard, step into the interim CEO role.
Third: The former lab rat. Cohort 2018 fellow Miguel Sierra Aznar reflects on the struggles and rewards of transforming himself from a lab rat to a founder and leader.
Finally: The homecoming. Jill Fuss, also from Cohort 2018, has returned to Activate as managing director of our Berkeley community, where her entrepreneurial journey started.

Ilan Gur’s Activate Legacy = Our Fellows
Our founding CEO Ilan Gur is taking the helm of the U.K.’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency. Activate Fellows always have been and always will be at the center of Activate, so we’re sharing, with his permission, Ilan’s farewell letter to them.

Welcoming Interim CEO Todd Johnson
Todd Johnson has championed Activate’s mission and supported the organization through significant growth. As Interim CEO, he’ll guide Activate into its next chapter.

From Lab Rat to Climate Tech CEO

Miguel Sierra Aznar is passionate about many things but his drive to develop zero-emissions engines propelled him on his academic and then entrepreneurial journey.

READ ON

(Re)Introducing Jill Fuss

It was inevitable that at some point an Activate Fellow would return to the community as an Activate staff member. But that doesn’t make it any less inspiring.

Read On

Gradient Contracts with NYCHA
Gradient, co-founded by Cohort 2017 fellow Vince Romanin, has been selected as part of an initiative to produce window-sized electric heat pump devices for the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), which provides affordable housing.

These heat pumps will give individuals more control over the temperature inside their living space, providing both cooling and heating from the same device—while also curbing planet-warming emissions.

FLO Materials & Infinitely Recyclable Eyewear
Co-founded by Kezi Cheng and Peter Christensen (Cohort 2021), FLO Materials is enabling circular design through infinitely recyclable polymers. The co-founders have recently hit a key milestone toward developing a PDK-based product for eyewear.

Christensen and Cheng successfully created a set of eyeglass frames, made from PDKs, which can drop directly into existing manufacturing processes.

Startup Boston Voting!
Activate is proud to be a finalist in this year's Startup Boston Community Awards in the Best Accelerator or Incubator Program category. We're also excited to announce that Robigo, founded by Cohort 2022 fellow Andee Wallace, is a finalist in the Best Student-Founded Startup category.

Vote once per day until September 2.

Vote here

#BecomeAnActivateFellow: Cohort 2023 Registration is Now Open

Planning to apply? Register now and we’ll automatically upload your information to your full application this fall. We'll connect you to additional resources relevant to your particular technology or background, such as workshops, introductions to fellows, and more.

Want to help us get the word out? Applications open on September 15! Learn more about the recruitment timeline and help amplify the fellowship opportunity with your networks so that we can find our next cohort of incredible Activate Fellows. The Activate Fellowship transforms scientists and engineers into entrepreneurs so they can transform the world.

Activate Fellows are #ScientistsOnAMission.

Track our fellows' progress in real-time on our social media feeds.

IN OUR ECOSYSTEM
Upcoming events, relevant opportunities, and what we're reading.

Upcoming Events

Activate New York managing director Andrew Chang joins a panel to discuss carbon dioxide removal technologies at the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory’s 2022 Carbon Management Project Review in Pittsburgh, PA, on Tuesday, August 16, at 3:45pm ET.
Activate Fellow Margaret Lumley will pitch ChloBis Water at the 5X5X5 pitchfest, where five founders get five minutes to pitch their startups to win a $5k grant from the Doyenne community for underrepresented entrepreneurs. August 17, 10am CT.
Greentown Labs’ Climatetech Summit 2022 will feature 200+ startups and their climate-tech solutions; keynotes and sessions featuring leaders across finance, policy, and justice; and networking with key climate action stakeholders. Register to attend virtually or in person in Houston, TX or Somerville, MA on November 2 and 3.

Relevant Opportunities

CalTestBed provides clean energy entrepreneurs with vouchers worth up to $300,000 for third-party testing of their technologies at one of more than 70 testbeds across nine University of California campuses and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Applications close August 19.
The Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge provides connections, visibility, and up to €100K in equity-free funding to a deep tech startup or project that uses advanced technology to answer a societal or industrial challenge. Applications are open until September 23.
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program offers $50K to $15M in non-dilutive grants. Many Activate cohort companies have won SBIR grants. Is it right for you? Warren Katz, chairman of The Alliance for Commercial Technology in Government, offers an SBIR primer in My Climate Journey’s Community Voices.

Activate Voices

Etosha Cave (Twelve, Cohort 2015) joined Department of Energy secretary Jennifer Granholm in a recent episode of the DOE’s People Powered podcast to discuss the ways Black women entrepreneurs are leading the nation’s clean energy transition.
Richard Wang (Cohort 2016, CEO of Cuberg) and Mariam Awara (Cohort 2022, COO of Pulsenics) discussed aviation, the next frontier for battery innovation, on the Battery Insiders podcast on Clubhouse.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, AND BELONGING AT ACTIVATE

August is National Breastfeeding Month, dedicated to advancing advocacy, protection, and promotion of breastfeeding. While at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Activate Berkeley managing director Jill Fuss worked to create lactation rooms for lab staff. “I went from pumping in an entryway of a women's bathroom for my first child to having a private room with a comfortable chair for my second child. It made a big difference in my life,” she says.

Activate exists to create a better future, for all. In service of this purpose, we are committed to actively promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) across our business, including in our operations, our fellowship, our partnerships, and our brand. Read ourDEIB commitmentand ourcommitment to Black lives.

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Activate empowers scientists to reinvent the world by bringing their research to market. Our team brings a diversity of experience and a deep track record to helping our fellows bridge the science-to-market gap.

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