Sustainability / Clean Tech

You spend most of your life in buildings, but how often do stop to consider the environmental impact of those buildings?  The materials used in our buildings cause 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and much of this comes from concrete and other hard surfaces. Architects are increasingly switching over to more sustainable material options, and the green construction market has grown to over $110BN with a 12% CAGR.  However, low-embodied carbon options for concrete-like materials remain limited.

SkyNano is a science-driven company pioneering a sustainable pathway to produce low-cost advanced carbon-based materials directly from carbon dioxide.

Using a proprietary electrochemical process developed at Vanderbilt University, SkyNano captures CO2 from industrial emissions and converts it into valuable solid carbon nanomaterials—without fossil feedstocks.

Fibarcode’s core technology—an engineered optical structure integrated directly into textile fibers—serves as a unique, indelible identifier that can be woven or knitted into fabrics using standard manufacturing processes.

Over 200 customer discovery interviews (conducted during and after the NSF I-Corps program) revealed critical pain points in the apparel resale and recycling ecosystem:

Ecoatex is a biomaterials technology company that transforms agricultural and marine byproducts—nutshells, crop residues, and seaweed—into advanced cellulose materials, including cellulose, nanocellulose, and lignin.

These bio-based materials enable production of sustainable fibers, nonwovens, leathers, coatings, and composites for textiles, packaging, sportswear, and medical applications.

Clarus Labs commercializes a kinetic, light-based testing platform that transforms slow, lab-bound chemical analysis into rapid, on-site quantification.

Our first product delivers oxidation testing for meat and pet food in under 10 minutes, replacing traditional assays that require skilled chemists, expensive instruments, and hours of processing.

QCarbon Inc. is a deep-tech materials company pioneering the commercialization of QCarbon—a newly discovered phase of carbon stronger than diamond—for clean-energy and high-performance electronic systems.

PolyPV develops lightweight, flexible organic solar modules that deliver reliable power in challenging environments where traditional rigid panels fall short.

The technology addresses a critical need for defense, disaster relief, and remote operators: dependable, portable energy without stable infrastructure. Conventional solar solutions are bulky, fragile, and hard to transport—forcing reliance on heavy batteries or vulnerable fuel supply chains that reduce mobility and increase risk.

VibraPower is an energy technology startup developing resonance-tracking vibration energy harvesters that convert wasted mechanical vibrations into continuous electrical power for wireless sensors.

Our mission is to eliminate batteries and wiring in industrial monitoring systems, enabling self-powered, maintenance-free sensors that power the next generation of AI-enabled industrial intelligence.

Grid reliability and resiliency remain challenged because distributed energy resources (DER) and microgrids have yet to drive transformative change in electric power systems.

Nhu Energy addresses this gap with high-performing digital operating technology (OT) that enables clean, flexible, and resilient distributed power at scale.

Our interoperable Operating Technology as a Service (OTaaS®) solutions deliver proven value to mission-critical facilities, including:

Crop pests cause 20–40% of global crop losses, costing over $220 billion worldwide and $30–100 billion in the U.S. annually (USDA ARS, 2024; NIFA, 2024).

Yet 75–90% of sprayed pesticides never reach their target, requiring multiple applications, driving excess chemical leaching into soil and water, and raising costs for farmers.