The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is the U.S Department of Energy’s primary renewable energy laboratory. Since 2020, EFN has led 15 projects to engage, train and coach innovators and community and university leaders to develop climate and clean energy solutions. Our services include accelerator design and planning, grant and prize application training and coaching, fundraising and development advice, and partnering support and referrals.
The AMN is where creative entrepreneurs and a diverse community of thought leading experts come together to build and accelerate world-changing clean energy ideas and technologies. The AMN has provided over $100M in funding since it was founded. EFN has had 13 projects to support innovators competing for funding in carbon capture and transport, electrification, geothermal energy, grid innovations, energy storage, microbatteries, and local community energy innovation.
The US DOE is the lead federal agency for energy. DOE is one of the largest US federal agencies with a $35B+ annual budget. Since 2020, EFN has trained and coached hundreds of solar startups and medium sized companies in DOE’s Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program and Solar Incubator programs.
The Department is responsible for United State’s foreign policy and relations. The Department has 273 posts worldwide. EFN supports the Department’s entrepreneur development programs, especially for women.
In September 2021, EFN partnered with the State of Queensland, Australia, to launch a women’s entrepreneur mentoring program funded by the US State Department, via their Australian Embassy.
This program fits within the Queensland Government’s $755 million “Advance Queensland” initiative, which is designed to transform the Queensland economy through innovation, turning ideas into new products and services, strengthening and diversifying the State’s economy and creating jobs. This program supports Advance Queensland objectives and provides an invaluable opportunity that complements their Female Founders Programs.
EFN executed an accelerator to mentor, train and 40 female founded companies across two cohorts. Many of the companies raised more funding and developed customers as a result of the program.
The team engaged many supportive global organizations including Accel Ventures, Atlassian, Google, Dow Chemical, and others.
In September 2022, EFN partnered with the ScaleUp & Growth Strategy Center of the ESADE Entrepreneurship Institute to execute a mentor-based accelerator for 40 women entrepreneurs in Spain with scalable businesses. This project is supported by the U.S. Embassy in Madrid and the U.S. Consulate General in Barcelona. The Jump Startup Women Accelerator supported women in Spain looking to expand their technology-based startups through training, mentoring and access to people and resources to take their next big step.
Many of the teams raised more funding and secured more customers because of the program. Founders rated their mentoring experience at 4.9 out of 5.
We engaged many supportive organizations and partners who promoted the program, gave training and provided feedback to the founders including Accel Ventures, the European Innovation Council, Dow Chemical, the Spanish Trade and Commercial Agency, and the US Department of Commerce, Commercial Service.
In October 2023, EFN began a female founders program for Korean women as part of the US State Department’s Academy of Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) program. This project is supported by the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. EFN will guide participants through an online learning program developed by the Thunderbird School of Business at Arizona State University and provide mentoring and peer learning.
EFN co-created and co-manage the Network. Empower Innovation matches over 4,000 members to billions in innovation funding and to customers, solution providers, and partners.
Since Activate’s launch in 2015, Activate has supported more than 50 innovators developing transformative energy, climate, and manufacturing technologies, resulting in more than 30 new companies that have collectively raised more than $100MM to support their work. The two-year Activate Fellowship provides funding, access to world-class research facilities, entrepreneurial mentorship, networking, and education. EFN and Activate are outreach partners. EFN helps promote Activate’s fellowship programs through our network. Activate promotes EFN’s training programs to its community.
EFN partnered with the Bank of Africa between 2016 and 2018 to mentor finalists in the African Entrepreneurship Award (AEA) AEA was supported by President Obama at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit at Stanford in 2014. The AEA had more than 50 African university partners and approximately half of the 4000 people who entered the competition were current students or recent grads. The AEA offered $1 million to winners.
Since 2022, EFN has partnered with Esade in Spain, one of Europe’s top business schools, to run a female founders accelerator for Spanish women. Also, EFN and Esade partner to develop other programs in Europe.
Since 2013, served as Mentorship Partner for the Rice Business Plan Competition, the largest business plan competition in the World. RBPC alumni have raised more than $1.3 billion. More than $2 Million is awarded to the top teams at the competition each year.
EFN provides mentors and advisors that support teams in Stanford’s Venture Studio, a campus wide acceleration program that is housed at Stanford Business School. In partnership with the BASES, the Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students, EFN provides student training and mentoring for BASES’ Social Impact Incubator, where students compete for a grand prize of $25,000 in partnership with Hico Capital an investment arm of SK Networks.
EFN was founded at UC Berkeley in 2003. Since then, we have partnered with the University to develop and provide mentoring support programs in the Business School and Engineering School. Currently, EFN is a partner in UC Berkeley’s CleanTech to Market program.
Since 2013, EFN has provided mentoring and training solutions to UM’s premier fall technology commercialization practicum in the Ross School of Business. Startups working in a range of industry sectors come from the UM Tech Transfer licensees, economic development/business accelerator clients, and entrepreneurs from the lively Ann Arbor/Detroit entrepreneurial ecosystem.
