Carbontech Development Initiative Announces Round 2 Awards

NEW YORK CITY — The Carbontech Development Initiative (CDI) proudly unveils its latest milestone, awarding over $3 million to sixteen innovative teams dedicated to researching, developing, and commercializing pivotal negative emissions technologies. Joining the twelve teams from CDI’s inaugural round, these sixteen visionary awardees, selected from CDI's second program solicitation round, are poised to drive advancements across three core technology domains:

• CO2 capture via direct air and point-sources, such as industry and power generation.
• CO2-to- materials and products for the buildings sector.
• CO2-to-chemicals, fuels, and other products and materials.

New York State's climate agenda calls for an affordable and just transition to a clean energy economy that creates family-sustaining jobs, promotes economic growth through green investments. New York is advancing a suite of efforts to achieve an emissions-free economy by 2050, including in the energy, buildings, transportation, and waste sectors.

Technologies that enable more efficient carbon capture and utilization can play an important role. With the inclusion of the second cohort of awardees, the CDI program now backs 28 teams devoted to advancing crucial carbontech technologies with non-dilutive funding. This solidifies CDI's position as a leading catalytic funder in the field, steadfastly advancing our mission to support vital research initiatives and startups essential to the carbontech value chain, facilitating technology transfer, nurturing innovation commercialization, and cementing New York State as a global Carbontech hub in alignment with the state’s ambitious climate objectives.

Through a rigorous and competitive selection process, CDI has strategically selected its second cohort spanning a spectrum of scientific and engineering innovation in diverse negative emissions technologies. The cohort includes nine teams selected through CDI’s research programs (Carbontech Leap, New Directions, and Propel Carbontech), focused on pioneering scientific research to advance groundbreaking technologies within CDI’s designated areas. Additionally, seven teams were selected through CDI’s commercialization program, Bridge Carbontech, which supports teams advancing groundbreaking laboratory-proven technologies critical for carbon removal. These teams will concentrate on overcoming barriers hindering the transition of these technologies from the lab to the market.

Representing both university-based researchers and innovative startups, this cohort encompasses a geographically diverse range across New York, Arizona, California, Delaware, Illinois, Oregon, and Texas. Jim Aloise, CDI's Executive Director, highlighted the exceptional quality of the applicant pool, stating, “We are deeply impressed by the breadth of expertise and innovation shown by our incoming cohort of funded projects. Each team showcases dynamic potential to drive transformative solutions in addressing the impacts of climate change. We're excited to offer direct mentorship, world-class guidance from industry leaders, and essential funding to help these teams fully realize their commercialization potential."

A full list of CDI funded projects is available here. CDI’s grant-making program is supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) Vice President of Innovation Brandon Owens said, “The companies awarded through the Carbontech Development Initiative are at the forefront of advancing innovative, clean, and efficient technologies that will drive emission reductions and contribute to a more sustainable future. NYSERDA's partnership with CDI is a vital platform to accelerate research and development, fostering groundbreaking products that will help industries across New York reduce their carbon footprint while making energy more reliable and affordable."

Each team in CDI’s second cohort will receive funding up to $375,000, along with comprehensive support to pursue specific scientific or engineering breakthroughs and address technical or commercialization challenges. The program includes extensive commercialization training through CDI’s accelerator program, encompassing managerial, commercial, and entrepreneurial practices tailored to carbontech, as well as broader instruction in climate science and policy. Teams will benefit from customized education, mentorship, and access to industry networks and financial partners, with the overarching goal of facilitating their journey to scaled deployment of their innovations.

Round 3 Solicitation

CDI’s third application is planning to be released in early 2025. Please contact [email protected] for further information.

About CDI

Based out of Columbia Technology Ventures, CDI is a carbontech market transformation and grant-seeding commercialization hub. CDI connects a global ecosystem of academic, philanthropic, business, and government actors to fill related incubation, personnel, and financial gaps within the carbontech sector. CDI leverages Columbia University’s leadership in carbontech research for over 20 years, pioneering scientific concepts and leading the way in legal and policy initiatives. CDI’s grant-making program is supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), with the aim of transforming New York State into a hub for the carbontech industry.  To achieve this, CDI is providing support to researchers and entrepreneurs, facilitating the transfer of technology, and promoting the commercialization of new carbontech innovations