Greentown Labs' Annual DEMO Day Calls for Climate Action, Announces Saint-Gobain as Town Green Presenting Partner

SOMERVILLE, Mass., June 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In a celebratory event with United States Senator Edward J. Markey, Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, Saint-Gobain Chief Innovation Officer Tom Kinisky, and cleantech leaders from around the country, Greentown Labs today announced Saint-Gobain, one of the world's largest building materials companies, as the Town Green Presenting Partner at the Greentown Labs Global Center for Cleantech Innovation in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Saint-Gobain and Greentown Labs' partnership began in 2014 with a clear mission: help cleantech startups solve the world's biggest climate and environmental challenges. Throughout the five-year partnership, Saint-Gobain has been deeply engaged with Greentown Labs and features a wide-array of on-site resources for Greentown Labs' startup residents. Entrepreneurs gain access to Saint-Gobain research and development equipment, CertainTeed environmental testing chambers, a materials library, on-site experts, and more.

"Saint-Gobain and Greentown Labs' strong partnership history was built on our shared values around innovation, climate solutions, and an entrepreneurial mindset," said Emily Reichert, CEO of Greentown Labs. "Our community has been incredibly fortunate to have access to Saint-Gobain's wonderful team of experts and amazing resources. We're eager to begin this next phase of our partnership with Saint-Gobain as the Town Green Presenting Partner to see all the great activities and collaborations that take place in the Town Green over the next five years of our partnership!"

The expansion of Saint-Gobain's engagement at Greentown Labs as the Town Green Presenting Partner underscores the 350-year-old company's commitment to developing solutions for the global challenges of climate change, sustainable buildings, and enterprise innovation. The Town Green at Greentown Labs is a vibrant gathering space with capacity for up to 650 guests. A modern reinterpretation of the Renaissance Piazza, the Town Green will serve as a meeting space for experts from around the world to convene, connect, and drive climate action.

"Saint-Gobain is proud to expand our commitment and involvement in Greentown Labs as the Town Green Presenting Partner," said Tom Kinisky, SVP and Chief Innovation Officer of Saint-Gobain and Chairman of Saint-Gobain North America. "The expansion of our partnership will help create more connections between us and the innovative member companies at Greentown Labs. We believe that by embracing borderless innovation we will be able to better serve our customers and humanity at large by responding more quickly to the complex environmental and sustainability challenges that stand before us."

Somerville Climate Leadership Drives Collaborations

Dynamic corporate partnerships and support from local and state governments have long played a role in Greentown Labs' success. Since moving to Somerville in 2013 and under Mayor Joseph Curtatone's leadership, Greentown Labs has been encouraged to view the city as a "testbed" for experimentation and deployment of new innovations. Utilizing Greentown Labs' member companies' technologies across the City complements the actions outlined in Somerville Climate Forward, Somerville's first comprehensive climate change plan. The Climate Forward Plan identifies 13 priority action areas to reduce Somerville's contributions to climate change and work toward carbon neutrality.

Today, Mayor Curtatone announced the City of Somerville's Climate Action Collaborative—the City's newest effort to secure its position as a global leader in climate action and mitigation. Somerville is seeking partners to support research, development, testing, and planning to support the City's mission to become a global hub of cleantech innovation, collaboration, and commercialization.

"Somerville set a goal to be carbon neutral by 2050, and Somerville Climate Forward, our new climate action plan, shows we can't do it alone—and we'll need new technologies to get us over the finish line," said Somerville Mayor Curtatone. "We're lucky to have partners like Greentown Labs that are working on tools and technology to mitigate and fight climate change and we look forward to the great things that will come from their partnership with Saint-Gobain."

Startup Product Reveals and Commercial Availability 

When Greentown Labs opened the Global Center for Cleantech Innovation in 2018, it encouraged its member companies to take advantage of implementation opportunities at the new headquarters. Shortly after, Sunwealth, a clean energy investment firm and Greentown Labs member, installed a 110kW solar array atop the Global Center.

Today, Greentown Labs member company Ivys Energy Solutions, developer of safe and cost-effective hydrogen fueling technologies for fuel cell electric vehicles, along with its partner PDC Machines, announced the first SimpleFuel® hydrogen appliance installation in the Northeast at Greentown Labs. In partnership with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, the City of Somerville, Hyundai and Greentown Labs, the SimpleFuel® station will generate and dispense renewable hydrogen fuel, as well as providing battery EV charging, to support a demonstration fleet of Hyundai vehicles. The SimpleFuel® at Greentown Labs is the most compact hydrogen station in the world, demonstrating clearly that zero-emission hydrogen technologies can be deployed in urban and fleet environments.

"We are driven to commercialize compact fueling appliances for electric vehicles to enable sustainable transportation alternatives that benefit the environment, strengthen our domestic economy, create clean energy jobs, and improve utility resiliency," said Darryl Pollica, President and CEO of Ivys Inc. "The forward-looking support from our project partners will empower this landmark demonstration at the intersection of renewable energy and zero-emission transportation technologies, helping to accelerate the Commonwealth towards its goal of 300,000 ZEVs by 2025, as well as proactively responding to the State Administration's 2050 carbon reduction goals."

Innovation across clean transportation and mobility is a key theme among the Greentown Labs community and for the first time, DEMO Day featured not one but two product reveals from Greentown Labs member companies.

Today, SparkCharge revealed its fully portable, ultrafast, and modular electric vehicle chargers. The company's goal is to eliminate range anxiety and the hassle EV owners face when it comes to charging. SparkCharge's chargers are compact and can be delivered to an EV owner whenever, wherever.

The convenience model is changing the way the world does business and SparkCharge believes charging an EV shouldn't be any different. They're partnering with OEMs, roadside assistance providers, ridesharing companies and fleets to deploy their technology.

"SparkCharge is bridging the gap between electric vehicle owners and charging stations by changing the perception and way electric vehicle owners charge their car," said Joshua Aviv, CEO and Founder of SparkCharge. "Our mission is to make electric vehicle travel easier. By removing the charging limitations to electric vehicles, we believe we can help the electric vehicle market grow much faster."

Greentown Labs Community Signals Strong Alignment with the Green New Deal

Greentown Labs 2019 DEMO Day Keynote Speaker, Senator Markey, describes the Green New Deal as a bold, ambitious, and achievable set of principles that the United States, its people, and the planet deserve. Introduced in February 2019 by Senator Markey and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Green New Deal resolution is a 10-year mobilization that if deployed correctly will work for all Americans: boosting the economy, creating jobs, mitigating climate change and increasing climate resiliency.

The mobilization calls for the international exchange of new technology, expertise, funding, products to cement the United States' position as a leader on climate action. The Greentown Labs community—from industry leaders like Saint-Gobain to its more than 90 startups—is actively working to spur partnerships and develop solutions for the new energy economy. Greentown Labs' member companies are creating technologies across transportation, buildings, agriculture, the grid and more.

"Greentown Labs is proof positive that Massachusetts isn't just the Bay State, we are the Brain State. Our economy, our environment, and our ability to combat climate change all flow from innovative solutions like those being developed at Greentown Labs," said Senator Markey. "Greentown Labs is our other Green Monster. If we achieve the kind of bold vision of the Green New Deal, we will need Greentown Labs and its entrepreneurs and engineers showing us the way."

The 100,000 sq. ft. Greentown Labs campus provides startups with a robust network of strategic partners, prototyping lab space, a wet lab, a machine shop, an electronics shop, office space for more than 500 entrepreneurs, a 650-person event space, and a variety of flexible membership options. Greentown Labs was founded in 2011 by four companies that simply wanted to split the cost of rent and quickly became the largest hardware-focused, cleantech incubator in North America. Less than eight years later, Greentown Labs' member companies have collectively created more than 2,800 jobs and raised more than $650M in funding.

About Greentown Labs
Greentown Labs is a community of bold, passionate entrepreneurs creating solutions for today's biggest environmental and climate challenges. Located in Somerville, Mass., and founded in 2011, the Greentown Labs Global Center for Cleantech Innovation is the largest cleantech incubator in North America, operating a 100,000 sq. ft. campus comprised of prototyping and wet lab space, shared office space, a machine shop, electronics lab, and a curated suite of programs and resources. Greentown Labs is home to more than 90 startups and has supported more than 210 since its inception. These startups collectively employ more than 2,800 people and have raised more than $650 million in funding. The incubators' mission is to provide entrepreneurs with the community, resources, and space they need to thrive. For more information, please visit www.greentownlabs.com or on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

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SOURCE Greentown Labs

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