Campus Representatives
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Pat Looney jlooney@bnl.gov
Cornell NYC Tech
Bethany Koi ck574@cornell.edu
City University of New York
John Blaho jblaho@ccny.cuny.edu
NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering
Chris Snyder christopher.snyder@nyumc.org
Columbia University
Donna See donna.see@columbia.edu
Stony Brook University
William Worek william.worek@stonybrook.edu
PowerBridgeNY is a Collaborative Effort
Across Downstate Institutions, with
$10 Million in Funding from
NYSERDA
Overview
OBJECTIVE
AWARDS
Cleantech innovations from academic research labs
more and stronger cleantech businesses in New York State
Validation Phase
• Up to $150K for technical proof-of-concept
• Additional $ for business validation
• Support from industry / entrepreneur coaches, external advisors,
student teams
• Milestone-based tranches
Ignition Phase
• $50K for company launch & marketing
ELIGIBILITY
CRITERIA
Open to Researchers at participating institutions
Within NYSERDA’s “areas of interest”
Based on University IP
Not for “basic research”
SELECTION
PROCESS
First cycle: Oct 2013
Pre-proposal > full proposal > pitch day
External judging committee (VCs, industry, entrepreneurs)
Based on commercial potential
All judging is done externally by our
diverse panel of Judges, which includes
representatives from the government,
industry, utilities, and venture capital firms.
*Returning for Cycle 2
Bill Lese
Brad Pietras
Dan Robinson
Managing Partner
Braemar Energy Ventures
VP of Technology
Lockheed Martin
Senior Associate
SJF Ventures
David Cruikshank*
David Wells*
Edward Greer*
Partner
Arch Ventures
Partner
Kleiner Perkins NY
Manager
DOW Chemical Company
Jackson Lehr*
Jigar Shah
Johannes Rittershausen*
John Freer*
Director
National Grid
Founder
Jigar Shah Consulting
Managing Director
Convergent Energy + Power
Manager, External Tech. Initiatives
GE Research
John Lee*
Josh Wolfe
Jurij Paraszczak
Mike Bishop*
Analyst
Osage Ventures
Co-founder
Lux Capital
Director
IBM Research
Senior Associate
Black Coral Capital
Nancy Doon
Rebecca Craft*
Satyen Mukherjee*
Troy Devries
Senior Manager
Smart Grid Consortium
Director, Energy Efficiency
ConEd
Chief Scientist & Senior Director
Phillips Research
Director, Research & Development
ConEd
Barbara Kate-Garnick
Bradley Atwater
Senior Research Associate
Smart Grid Consortium
Undersecretary for Energy and
the Environment
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Technical Director
Lockheed Martin
Frank Martino
Margarett Jolly
VP, Operations
Columbia University Facilities
Director, Research and Development
ConEd
Past
Judges
New
Judges
Andrea Ruotolo
We assign at least one Mentor per team.
Last Cycle we had 28 Mentors (~2 per team)
who came from a variety of backgrounds
and may have experience with startups,
industry, investing, and more.
How We
PowerBridge
The Gap
Academic
Research
Proof of Concept Funding
Commercial
Enterprise
(Government Grants)
Access to Customers
(Investors)
Business Support
Mentorship/Advisors
Cycle 1 Numbers
Cycle 2
Timeline
SEP
50
14
13
10 3
Preproposals
Full
proposals
Pitches
Full
awardees
Partial
awardees
SEP 29
NOV 10
FEB 11
MAY 1
Pre-proposal
application
opens
Teams
notified
Pitch teams
selected
Projects
begin
OCT
OCT 10
JAN 12
MAR 4
Pre-proposals
due
Proposals
due
Pitch day
NOV
Mentors &
Advisors
assigned
DEC
JAN
Mini “boot-camp”
FEB
MAR
NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps)
Our
Methodology
• Way to find a viable business model for a startup
• Lectures and “skills labs” in combination with active
customer discovery
• Focus on getting out of the building and talking to
potential customers
• Awardees will be required to conduct at least 100
interviews
Business Model Canvas
• Awardees required to update monthly
• Tool used to track learnings and frame
project
• Completed BMC will serve as basis for
investor pitch and business plan
Sample
Evaluation
Criteria Will
Include…
Technical feasibility
and benefits
Commercial
potential
Energy savings or
amount of renewable
energy produced
Market need and size
Demonstrated earlystage proof-of-principle
Innovativeness of the
proposed solution
Ability to execute within
available budget (indirect
cost rate included)
Strength of intellectual
property
Competitive landscape
Feedback from mentor
Qualifications of the team
Commitment of the team
Guidelines on “Eligible Technologies”
Within NYSERDA’s Areas of Interest*
CURRENTLY ELIGIBLE
CURRENTLY NOT ELIGIBLE
Transportation
Nuclear
Fuel Production
Compressed Natural Gas & LNG
Fuel Delivery
Hydrofracking
Buildings
Clean Coal
Energy Storage
Electricity Generation
Electricity Delivery & Management
*An in-depth list of eligible technologies is available on the
powerbridgeny.com “Apply” tab. Please email the Campus
Rep for your institution if you are unsure of your eligibility.
Current
Awardees
Genggeng Qi
Yingchao (Alex) Yu
Cornell University
Pilot production of high-efficiency sorbents for costeffective carbon capture
Cornell University
Advanced Li-ion battery anode material with 3X
capacity, 4X lifetime, 3X charging rate, reduced cost
Alan Lyons
Mariusz Bojarski
CUNY
Antireflective superhydrophobic self-cleaning films:
Reliable materials to increase efficiency of solar panels
NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering
Resonant power inverters optimized for highly
efficient wireless charging of electric vehicles
Saeed Jazebi
Marc Diaz-Aguilo
NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering
HIGHEST (HIGH Efficiency Shielded Toroidal)
Transformers to help distribution network operators for
saving energy
NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering
Cable transient ampacity (C.TrAm) software to
monitor temperature of electric cables
Yiannis Andreopoulos
John Kymissis
CUNY
Battery replacement module for HVAC sensors
Columbia University
PlugSTRATE: A low cost, wireless monitor for
energy use analysis
Roger Anderson
Kartik Chandran
Columbia University
Using machine learning to reduce electricity lost in T&D
of electricity for utilities, microgrids, and in buildings
Columbia University
Increasing energy efficiency of wastewater
treatment facilities
Alan West
Lei Zuo
Columbia University
Chemicals and fuels from electricity and CO2
Stony Brook University
Vibration energy harvester to power trackside electrical
railroad infrastructures more efficiently and
inexpensively than incumbents
Note: all funding will be released based on successful interim
tech & business project milestones
Mutual
Expectations
for Awardees
Teams that complete all
milestones and establish a
company in New York State
will be eligible to apply for
$50K Ignition Grants.
Technical
Business
What we
expect
from you…
• Develop initial prototype
• Targeted experiments to
de-risk the technology
• Conduct in-field testing
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
What you
can expect
from us…
• Mentors & coaches
• Funding for tech
Development
• Access as needed to:
- Student teams for
design & prototyping
- Built environments for
testing prototypes
• Funding for:
- Conference travel & fees
- SBIR/STTR assistance
• Mentors & coaches
• Financial support in
addition to Project Funds
for business and external
assistance
• Access as needed to:
- Student teams for
business & marketing
support
- Educational panels &
boot camps
- Networking w/ VCs,
industry, entrepreneurs
- Subsidized tax, law,
accounting
Market assessment
Competitive landscaping
100 customer interviews
Business plan development
Develop commercial “pitch”
Talk to potential investors
SBIR/STTR application (if
relevant)
• Identify entrepreneurial lead
A Month
in the Life
• EL spends 40-60 hours on the project
• Conduct 10-15 customer interviews
• Update Business Model Canvas based
on interviews
• Annotate changes for discussion at
monthly meetings
• Meet once with Director to discuss both
technical and business milestone
progress
• Attend a Skills Lab or other required
event (usually about an hour)
• Work with Mentor at least 4-5 hours
• Work on preparing quarterly reports
FAQ
What do I have to do to apply?
• File an invention report with your home
institution’s tech transfer office
• Complete the 2-page pre-proposal (available
in Fall 2014)
Is there a bias towards short-term vs. longterm projects?
• No preference, as long as milestones are
met
What does PowerBridgeNY expect in return
for funding?
• No equity stake nor revenue share for
• No impact on the intellectual property
ownership
Can a PI apply with more than one
application?
• Yes, but if more than one pre-proposal is
invited to submit a full proposal, we will ask
the PI to select which project he or she
would like to move forward with
Are there any restrictions on the use of funds?
• 35% indirect cost rate
• No subcontracts in excess of 1/3 of the total
project budget
• Can be used for facility fees and services,
though PBNY will work to subsidize these costs
• Not intended for capex equipment >$20K
• Leasing large equipment is acceptable
• All equipment purchased will be the
property of the home institution
• Not intended for marketing materials (e.g. sales
brochures) or legal fees – these are for ignition
grant
What if a project is not selected as one of the
final awardees? Can the team reapply?
• Yes, if feedback is addressed
Where can I find more information?
• www.powerbridgeny.com/apply
• Application materials
• www.powerbridgeny.wikispaces.com
• Process information
Sign up to receive updates by emailing your
Campus Representative or visiting
www.powerbridgeny.com/contact
Institution
Campus Rep
Campus Rep Email
Tech Transfer Website
Brookhaven National
Laboratory
Pat Looney
jlooney@bnl.gov
www.bnl.gov/techtransfer
City University of
New York
John Blaho
jblaho@ccny.cuny.edu
www.cuny.edu/research/ovcr/tco.html
Columbia University
Donna See
donna.see@columbia.edu
www.techventures.columbia.edu
Cornell NYC Tech
Bethany Koi
ck547@cornell.edu
www.cctec.cornell.edu
NYU-Poly
Chris Snyder
christopher.snyder@nyu.mc.org
Oil.med.nyu.edu/faculty-students
Stony Brook
University
William Worek
William.worek@stonybrook.edu
www.stonybrook.edu/research/otlir