ClimateTech Expertise Network (CEN)

The ClimateTech Expertise Network (CEN) is supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and has been administered by Columbia Technology Ventures (CTV) since April 2024. The CEN program offers free support to early-stage climate technology companies benefiting New York State. Services include mentorship from entrepreneurs-in-residence, talent matching, vendor collaborations, peer groups, and events like virtual Skills Labs, Investor and Corporate Connections - all aimed at accelerating startups' paths to commercialization. The program builds off of its predecessor - the NYSERDA EIR Program (which CTV administered from Nov 2018 - Dec 2023) - by adding new and expanded program features in response to the needs of the ecosystem. “Climate technology” is defined as hardware technologies, software technologies, services, or processes that broadly reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and/or enable the transition to a sustainable and clean economy by: 1) increasing the supply of renewable energy and distributed energy resources, 2) improving the efficiency, 3) reducing the cost of energy utilization from the consumer to utility and industrial scales, 4) improving the processes and systems that use energy, and 5) more effectively enabling energy solutions to permeate the marketplace.