Massachusetts
State Resources
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is no stranger to innovation. Not only is it the landing place of the Pilgrims, the state played a pivotal role in the American Revolution. It’s the birthplace of the first American lighthouse, the first subway system in Boston, the invention of major sports including volleyball and basketball, and the first established college in North America, Harvard University. Today the Executive Office of Economic Development (EOHED) which includes the Massachusetts Office of Business Development oversees economic development in the state.
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (CEC) Tech-to-Market Program
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) is a state economic development agency. Through the CEC Tech-to-Market program it funds novel climate technologies for early-stage entrepreneurs and academic researchers. This program supports clean energy and climate technologies at all stages of development through a range of funding opportunities, including CriticalMass, InnovateMass, AmplifyMass, and Catalyst & DICES grants.
CriticalMass
The new CriticalMass program will support Massachusetts climatetech startup companies with deployment-scale projects, providing up to $1 million in grant funding for projects that address energy- or climate-resilience or -adaptation challenges.
InnovateMass
InnovateMass provides up to $350,000 in grant funding and technical support for initial demonstrations of new clean energy and climate technologies that show strong potential for commercialization. Eligible applicants include Climatech startup companies with technologies at TRL levels 5-8, which can apply as a lead applicant of a team to include one or more demonstration project partners. Funding is available to U.S.-based startups with partial Massachusetts requirements. InnovateMass is described as a “rolling funding program which operates under a trimester deadline schedule”
AmplifyMass
AmplifyMass provides up to $300,000 to academic researchers or companies with a significant Massachusetts presence and TRL 2-8 projects which need cost-share or ‘adders’ for federal/non federal prime awards (such as awards from ARPA-E, NSF, DOE, and USABC). The program supports projects that aim to commercialize or substantially de-risk an innovation that falls within MassCEC’s climatech mission, in focus areas including Energy & Electricity, Transportation, Manufacturing & Industry, Agriculture & Water, Buildings, and Resilience and Adaptation. Here is a link to an open AmplifyMass solicitation.
SBIR Targeted Technologies (START) Grants
MassVentures’ SBIR Targeted Technologies (START) Grants are offered to Massachusetts-based SBIR/STTR Phase II companies to further assist in technology commercialization. The non-dilutive grant funding is awarded in three stages – Stage I grants are $100,000; Stage II grants are $200,000 and awarded to the most promising Stage I winners from the previous year; and Stage III opportunities include up to $500,000 in seed capital for the most successful Stage II companies for commercial spinout. Since 2012, the START Program has granted $41.7 million to 141 companies.
MassVentures and MassCEC co-manage Catalyst and DICES grants. “Catalyst provides up to seven grants of up to $75,000 to researchers and early-stage companies to demonstrate clean energy technology initial prototypes. Solicitations occur bi-annually in the spring and fall. In parallel with Catalyst, Diversity in Cleantech Early Stage (DICES) awards three additional grants of up to $75,000 each for projects led by eligible women- or minority-owned early-stage companies.” To be eligible for both Catalyst and DICES, principal investigators must be at a Massachusetts-based research institution or Massachusetts-based early-stage clean energy company, with technology at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 2-4. Additionally for DICES, applicants must verify that they are a woman- or minority-owned startup.
