The InnovateMass program provides up to $250,000 in grant funding and technical support to applicant teams deploying new clean energy technologies or innovative combinations of existing technologies with a strong potential for commercialization.
Donor Name: Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC)
State: Massachusetts
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 02/01/2022
Size of the Grant: $250,000
Details:
The InnovateMass program provides up to $250,000 in grant funding and technical support to applicant teams deploying new clean energy technologies or innovative combinations of existing technologies with a strong potential for commercialization.
Successful applicants will propose projects that address important energy challenges, help to grow the state’s clean energy economy, and contribute to Massachusetts’ continued clean energy leadership.
Focus Areas
- High performance buildings
- Impactful, resilient, and cost-effective electrification technologies and approaches to decarbonizing the building sector.
- Clean transportation
- Technologies that address the market barriers to electric vehicle deployment across weight classes, as well as technologies that reduce GHG emissions through vehicle-miletravelled reduction and reduction of fuel usage in vehicles that have no electrification solution at present.
- Offshore wind
- Project risk and cost reduction, market confidence enhancement and economic development that advance this new industry.
- Net zero grid
- Technologies that enable a transition to a modernized and smarter grid which can host sufficient clean energy and flexible load resources to reach Net Zero, such as microgrids and energy storage.
Goals
The goal of InnovateMass is to accelerate the commercialization of clean energy technologies and related innovations between Technology Readiness Level (“TRL”) 5 (“component and/or breadboard validation in relevant experiment”) and TRL 8 (“actual systems completed and qualified through test and demonstration”) by providing funding for demonstration projects to test and measure the performance of the technology in order to advance its TRL. Technology demonstrations may also explore the viability of new or innovative business models, as applicable.
Successful applicants will demonstrate that:
- the technology used in the project has strong commercialization potential;
- they have developed a partnership with a Demonstration Partner that represents the target customer type of the technology or product being demonstrated, which will allow the technology to be validated in a demonstration setting, including a host site for the proposed project;
- the proposed project will advance the technology’s commercial readiness;
- the proposed project will enable an emerging Clean Energy Company to demonstrate the value of its technology to potential customers and investors;
- they have secured the required cost share
- the proposed project addresses a critical energy/climate challenge and reduces or prevents greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; and
- the proposed project is viable, and feasible within the budget proposed and the timeframe allowed by the Program.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible applicants include public and private entities (e.g., clean energy companies, research and development institutions, academic institutions, state, local, and quasi-government agencies, along with school districts, and nonprofits). Applicants are expected to form teams comprised of several entities (the “Applicant Team”) which will work together on the demonstration project.
- Applicant Teams must include at least one (1) Clean Energy Company with proprietary technology to be demonstrated, who will serve as the “Lead Applicant”. The Lead Applicant will contract directly with MassCEC, will receive the grant funds, if awarded, and will be responsible for deliverables under the grant agreement. The Lead Applicant must meet the definition of a small business, as outlined by the United States Small Business Administration’s “Table of Small Business Size Standards”.
- Applicant Teams should also include one (1) or more demonstration project partners (the “Demonstration Partner” or “Demonstration Partners”), who will provide a host site or sites for the proposed project (the “Project Site(s)”. Demonstration Partners may be potential clients or organizations that represent the target customer type of the technology or product being demonstrated. Such partners are able to provide a site for the demonstration project. Applicant Teams may also include additional technology providers; service providers or subcontractors; and other team members who are able to provide necessary funding and/or expertise.
- The Lead Applicant does not have to be a Massachusetts-based Company, however, if the Lead Applicant is not a Massachusetts-based Company, then at least one (1) Project Site must be in Massachusetts and the proposed technology must fall within one (1) of the four (4) Focus Areas (as defined in the Summary Section above). Lead Applicants must have a headquarters location in the United States.
- If the Lead Applicant is a Massachusetts-based Company, then the there is no requirement that the Project
Site(s) be in Massachusetts. MassCEC places no restriction on the location Project Site(s) for Massachusetts-based Lead Applicants. - All applications will be judged on the project’s projected clean energy and economic benefits generally as well as to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Focus Areas in particular.
- Software proposals are eligible but should endeavor to highlight the novel innovation at the core of the
proposed technology. - Entities may submit more than one Application and be part of more than one Applicant Team.
For more information, visit InnovateMass Program.
