The Carbon to Value Initiative (C2V Initiative) – a multi-year collaboration to accelerate the carbontech industry and Fluor Corporation – a leading global engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company announce the second year of the C2V Initiative’s world-class carbontech accelerator program.
The program aims to foster the creation of an innovation ecosystem for the commercialization of carbon technologies that capture and convert carbon dioxide into valuable end products or services. The incubation program’s core goal is to find viable emerging technologies and implement them to market as quickly as possible. The applications are now open at the C2V Initiative website.
The C2V Initiative is also supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The program is specifically appropriate for startups with a Technology Readiness Level of four to seven that are actively investigating product-market fit and seeking partnerships.
The carbon technologies with the greatest priority are carbon capture and storage or carbon capture utilization and storage technologies, carbon sequestration and carbon dioxide removal. The startups could be developing solutions that utilize operational waste streams from heavy industries (e.g., mine tailings, slag, fly ash), solutions focused on carbon captured by the world’s ocean and coastal ecosystems (e.g., seaweed), or solutions for net-zero steel and/or low-carbon cement.
The selected participants will work closely with Fluor over a six-month period to advance their commercialization efforts and mitigate risks related to their inventions. Fluor possesses in-depth experience of more than 100 years of operation in designing and building global projects. The company is also a technology licensor, so it is well-positioned to evaluate how new technologies can be brought to market and how to go through the licensing process.
NYSERDA, on the other hand, aims to make New York State a global center for carbontech leadership, so it provides funding to the initiative as part of its strategy. It also wants to reach its clean energy targets.
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The first year of the carbontech accelerator was considered a success as it attracted more than 130 startup applications. The program supported the first cohort of 10 groundbreaking companies, and led to partnership engagements, technology advancement, and industry growth.
“We could not be happier with the success the C2V Initiative found in its inaugural year… Our goal was to create a diverse ecosystem of companies looking to utilize the carbon that they capture. The technologies and applications from the first cohort addressed this need perfectly. We are excited to see how this next cohort continues this success,” said Dr. Thomas Schuelke, President of Fraunhofer USA – a non-profit organization that validates scientific applications and technologies for industrial innovation in the USA.
The continuation of the accelerator program for carbon technologies promises to accelerate the path towards commercialization of urgent climate mitigation solutions. It will also support the companies to directly engage with other market players that will help them scale their businesses much quicker.
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