From fuels to building tech to grid integration, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (IEC) tapped the National Laboratory of the Rockies' (NLR's) vast capabilities in advanced energy technologies to assist our startup portfolio and industry partners in Fiscal Year 2025. It was a year of expansion for IEC as we set our sights on connecting industry with emerging and market-ready technologies, from new program offerings to reverse pitches at our record-breaking 30th annual Industry Growth Forum. The market is speaking, and we are listening.
Director, NLR Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center
Spotlight: Connecting Market Leaders With NLR
Launched in 2025, the Energy Champions network—powered by IEC and the Foundation for NLR, an independent nonprofit organization—brings together forward-thinking corporations and their innovation leaders shaping the future of energy. Members gain curated, supported access to NLR—a national leader in advanced energy research and commercialization—and join a community of peers committed to innovation and collaboration.
Membership contributions go directly to the Foundation for NLR, which ensures alignment with its broader mission and funding guidelines, and support programs that empower startups, strengthen the talent pipeline, and expand NLR's innovation ecosystem. Champions also have opportunities to mentor emerging innovators, share thought leadership, and help influence national priorities from workforce development to technology commercialization.
The program's first members participated in the inaugural Scalable Tech cohort of another IEC program, the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2), from which staff from the following organizations graduated:
Avangrid
CBRE
Coconino County, Arizona
Digital Realty
Galvanize Real Estate
Intermountain Health
Schneider Electric
Southern Co.
University of Colorado Boulder
Wells Fargo.
NLR Insights
This year, IEC began developing NLR Insights, a quarterly series of curated, actionable insights from leading innovations and expert analyses across the laboratory distributed via email, newsletters, meeting presentations, and other channels. The series helps sector leaders incorporate the lab's most current findings into their strategic decision-making. It highlights opportunities in techno-economics, scaling and manufacturing, and emerging technologies. In 2026, NLR Insights will be shared with Energy Champions.
Startup Portfolio
Portfolio Startups in the News
Photo by National Laboratory of the Rockies
EsterCycle, an Amazon innovation lab partner created by a former NLR researcher, aims to revolutionize recycling by breaking down hard-to-recycle plastics into reusable raw materials efficiently. (FastCompany)
Photo from Electrified Thermal Solutions
Electrified Thermal Solutions raised $19 million from leaders in the mining, building materials, and energy sectors to commercialize its electrified thermal storage solutions. (PR Newswire)
Photo from eXoZymes
eXoZymes was selected as a core partner in a $9 million U.S. National Science Foundation project aimed at transforming the scalability of modular biomanufacturing systems. (ACCESS Newswire)
Photo by National Laboratory of the Rockies
UbiQD advanced window energy generation by acquiring IEC program alumnus BlueDot and raised $20 million in series B funding. (PR Newswire)
Photo from TerViva
TerViva launched a new plantation of pongomia trees to enhance global production of a suitable feedstock for synthetic aviation fuel systems. (World Bio Market Insights)
Photo from Brint Tech
Brint Tech was awarded a product development grant from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy and completed the first prototype of its stationary sensor.
Photo from CLIP
CLIP, which developed portable devices to convert regular bikes into e-bikes, is available on major college campuses and for rideshare operators in the U.S. and Europe who want to upgrade their fleets. (FastCompany)
Photo from Queens Carbon
Queens Carbon raised $10 million in seed funding to scale its platform for energy-efficient cement and prepare for a full-scale, first-of-its-kind commercial plant. (Business Wire)
Portfolio Companies
Eighteen companies joined IEC programs in Fiscal Year 2025.
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Aquora Biosystems' next-generation organic waste biorefinery produces in-demand biofuels overcoming current feedstock and cost limitations.
Blip Energy's smart battery platform manages the energy consumption of high-load appliances to transform the grid into a resource.
Consolidated Carbon provides industries with high-impact breakthroughs powered by bio-based solutions.
Evercloak's membrane dehumidification technology aims to reduce the energy that air conditioners consume by more than 50%.
Haliferro provides a high-temperature reaction-absorption process for enhanced ammonia synthesis at low pressure via abundant metal halide salts.
KineticCore offers a cost-effective, nonchemical kinetic energy storage system designed for high power and multiple charging cycles per day.
M1 Catalysts improves hydrogen production through electrolysis by reducing dependence on expensive, scarce platinum group metals.
MicroEra Power's THERMAplus thermal energy storage system is designed to optimize heating and cooling in buildings.
Novastus converts waste into valuable fuel and raw materials using nonthermal drying and recovery technology.
OsmoPure Technologies has developed a pressure-driven distillation membrane that produces ultrapure water more efficiently than conventional methods.
Ourea Lithium's modular, drop-in lithium refinery uses an electrochemical approach to spodumene extraction that removes high-cost, energy-intensive steps.
Petric uses a staged precipitation strategy to simultaneously remediate acid mine drainage wastewater and recover high-value rare earth elements.
Rare Flora is developing low-cost extraction methods for rare earth elements through phytomining, which deploys specific plant species to derive value from mine tailings.
SkyCool Systems' passive cooling technology replaces condensers, cooling towers, and cool roofs by deflecting heat into outer space.
Sora Fuel produces jet fuel by converting air into low-cost, scalable synthetic fuel without feedstock constraints or impacts on agriculture.
Stalagmite's small, modular technology recovers industrial metals in acid mine drainage effluent without complex chemical reagents.
Transaera is building a new class of air conditioners that use novel materials and waste heat to deliver step-change efficiency improvement.
Verv Energy's applies artificial intelligence to optimize HVAC and refrigeration performance in large buildings.
Programs: Celebrating Lab-to-Market Innovations and Milestones
IEC programs provide solutions to suit our partners' needs by identifying gaps that prevent innovations from entering or growing within the market.
Energy I-Corps: 10 Years of NLR Impact
Energy I-Corps—launched in 2015 by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Technology Commercialization—has trained more than 540 national lab researchers and engaged more than 260 industry mentors. IEC manages the program for DOE, and NLR boasts the most participation among national labs with 58 teams (23% of total participants) bringing in nearly $4.5 million in lab funding. Collectively, Energy I-Corps graduates have executed 85 licenses and raised nearly $200 million in follow-on funding. Teams have been funded by 21 offices across DOE and the National Nuclear Security Administration.
NLR's leadership reflects its success in embedding a market-focused mindset throughout the lab, helping researchers shape technologies that respond directly to industry needs and align with DOE commercialization goals. Several NLR teams have launched startups based on their Energy I-Corps technology, including Tereform (Cohort 13) focused on textile recycling, HydrokinetX (Cohort 17) leveraging marine energy, and EcoSnap (Cohort 1) with ductless mini-split heat pumps. RouteE (Cohort 8) also emerged from the program and now powers the green leaf feature in Google Maps, highlighting the most efficient driving route.
West Gate Marks Major Milestones
Launched in 2021, NLR's West Gate is one of four DOE Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Programs, designed to support early-stage energy innovators working inside national labs. To date, West Gate has supported 17 innovators across four cohorts, with associated startups raising $22 million in follow-on funding and creating 61 jobs. With DOE's critical partnership, West Gate provides innovators with a 2-year living stipend and lab-usable technical funding, access to NLR facilities, and targeted entrepreneurial support.
In 2025, the program marked a major milestone by welcoming four new fellows and graduating its first two cohorts. Alumni are building companies from Virginia to California, tackling urgent energy challenges with technologies built and tested at NLR.
Chevron Studio Fuels Startup Creation
Six cohorts in, Chevron Studio continues to connect entrepreneurs with early-stage energy technologies sourced from national labs and universities across the country. Since its launch, the program spun out 10 startups across a wide range of sectors and explored an additional 17 technologies. Those companies now receive tailored business development support including scale-up planning, licensing guidance, commercialization strategy, and field trial opportunities.
The network of intellectual property contributors has expanded to 56 partners, with more than 300 technologies reviewed annually. To date, the program has awarded $2.63 million in nondilutive funding to advance promising innovations toward commercialization.
The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator
The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2) completed its first Scalable Tech cohort, awarding $750,000 in Wells Fargo funding to five participants to pilot startup energy technologies in real-world applications within 6 months. IN2 also welcomed two Emerging Tech cohorts, in November 2024 and September 2025, featuring six startups focused on advancing scalable solutions for commercial and residential buildings. This year's efforts reflect IN2's continued mission to de-risk energy innovations, accelerate commercialization, and support startups at critical inflection points through funding, validation, and national lab expertise.
Pursuing new technologies is often seen as a cost and business risk for any size organization. … The IN2 award allows us to further accelerate the deployment of cutting-edge building technology solutions, advancing our goals of improving profitability and performance."
The Shell GameChanger Accelerator Powered by NLR
The Shell GameChanger Accelerator Powered by NLR (GCxN) selected and onboarded its seventh cohort, with five companies in the technology areas of future feedstocks and electrochemical pathways to fuels. Three companies from prior cohorts successfully graduated from the program, and GCxN honored the IEC Channel Partner network with the program's first-ever Strategic Awards.
The Canadian Technology Assistance Program
Twelve Canadian companies participated in two cohorts, and 25 NLR researchers participated in two pitch days to share technical expertise and feedback.
G-PST Consortium
G-PST's network of 37 power system operators delivers 35% of global electricity and has advanced technical solutions for accelerating use of inverter-based resources in managing stable, affordable, secure power systems.
NLR Technical Assistance Program
The NLR Technical Assistance Program supported 20 projects across a variety of technology types. One previous program awardee was accepted into West Gate, and another resulted in a journal article.
Events: Collaboratively Tackling Energy Challenges
IEC events convene industry, investors, researchers, and startups to accelerate innovation through connection.
The 30th annual Industry Growth Forum (IGF) saw record-breaking attendance and global participation among startups, investors, and other industry professionals seeking collaboration and networking opportunities. The 2025 event theme, Unlocking Value, highlighted the critical connections that drive energy innovation forward. IGF welcomed more than 1,000 attendees from 44 U.S. states and 20 countries, including 231 investors from 181 firms.
We're already building the 2026 IGF, which promises to be bigger and better than ever with new people, content, and opportunities. Don't miss your chance to be part of next year's premier event for convening energy tech investment and innovation.
There really isn't anything like IGF. It's become a place to convene the industry, investors, and startups to get to know each other. The industry is evolving every year. You've got to come and be current about what's happening."
I come to IGF in order to ascertain what's next; to determine what's on the cutting edge; to really understand what's possible; to help us shape where we want to spend our time."
Industry Growth Forum Highlights
Innovation Showcase Connects NLR With Investors
In October 2024, the Innovation Showcase, themed Demand Matters, brought together corporate partners, promising startups, and investors to hear from NLR researchers and partners solving challenges in industrial process and waste heat and the built environment. IEC's leading approach to linking innovation and demand through accelerator programming celebrated impact of programs like GCxN, West Gate, and Chevron Studio. The event expanded investor‑industry connections, while startup pitches from emerging innovators spurred deeper connections at this intimate gathering.
Networks: Expanding Our Reach
IEC stewards and activates national networks that span sectors and regions to build long-term partnerships that fuel innovation.
Channel Partner Network Scales Nationwide Impact
Nine members of IEC's Channel Partner network—a community of incubators, accelerators, and university programs collaborating to advance energy solutions—received Strategic Awards in 2025. This competitive funding supports innovation ecosystem-building initiatives nationwide. For the first time, Shell awarded two projects that emphasize cross-regional collaboration. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo awarded $1 million in funding to seven projects focused on pilot opportunities, which it announced at the annual Channel Partner event in March, where partners gathered to share insights, lessons learned, and best practices from the past year.
Investor Advisory Board Focuses on Scalable Power Solutions
Building on the theme of resilience and adaptation, IEC's Investor Advisory Board focused its spring conversations on data center load growth as part of NLR Partner Forum. As digital infrastructure continues to rapidly expand, the power demands of data centers present significant challenges and opportunities for the energy sector. The board explored strategies for managing load growth while ensuring grid reliability, integrating low-carbon energy, and optimizing efficiency. Selected startups presented their solutions for data center modularity (NLR Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy partner Flexnode), flow battery chemistry to support backup generation needs (Flux XII), optical switch solutions for next-generation artificial intelligence (Lucidean), and power system rack efficiencies (West Gate startup Palanquin Power).
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center Team
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Last Updated Dec. 23, 2025