Simon has worked at the intersection of climate and innovation for over a decade as an economist and entrepreneur with endeavors that include one of the first climate tech incubators in the US; the first large scale urban tech collaboratives in NYC and Detroit; and the Urban Tech Summit at Cornell Tech. In 2019, as the Founder of CIV:LAB and in partnership with the City of New York, Simon built 'The Grid', a local urban innovation collaborative of 130+ orgs and subsequently launched 'Detroit Urban Solutions' in 2020. Most recently, CIV:LAB has begun to fund community climate initiatives in education, workforce development and technology as part of a one of a kind national climate grant network with the goal of deploying $1bn across the United States to fight climate change on the ground.Prior to CIV:LAB, Simon helped launch the Urban Future Lab at NYU and Global Futures Group where he was a Strategic Advisor to the International Trade Administration at the U.S. Dept. of Commerce under Secretary Pritzker. He teaches on 'the Future of Cities' at Imperial College Business School London and Global Entrepreneurship at NYU's Center for Global Affairs where he completed his MS as the O'Mara Energy Fellow. Simon supports a number of non-profits including visionary architecture firm Terreform One and waste NGO EnergyVision where he serves as the Chairman and Vice Chairman of their respective Boards. Simon's work focuses on leveraging collaboration to build and scale solutions tackling climate and urban related problems.