The country’s largest clean technology incubator, Greentown Labs, has formally debuted their brand-new Global Center for Cleantech Innovation headquarters in Somerville, Massachusetts—just outside of Boston.
The grand opening ceremony that took place earlier this week was covered in an article by the Boston Business Journal, which highlighted the fact that the center was developed from a former auto body shop. The event was attended by a bipartisan group of supporters, including the state’s Republican Governor Charlie Baker.
Before the expansion, Greentown had been operating at over 100 percent capacity, so they saw a clear need to enlarge their space as their entrepreneurs continued to found new companies and hire dozens of employees at a time. The impressive 60,000-square-foot, $11 million facility includes office space for at least 400 employees, a 24-bench wet lab, and a large prototyping lab space. To get a look inside, check out their neat time-lapse video showing the project’s development over the past year.
“Ever since our grassroots beginnings, Greentown Labs has maintained one mission: to support cleantech startups with the community and resources they need to thrive,” said Greentown Labs CEO Dr. Emily Reichert. “In 2015 we knew that after maintaining a waitlist for nearly two years we needed to expand our offerings and facilities in order to not only support our region’s clean energy ecosystem but to serve as a global convener of cleantech innovators and entrepreneurs.”
Greentown is now home to more than 85 member startup companies that collectively employ several hundred people, and they continue to grow. Their companies range from early-stage teams just beginning prototyping, to those who have closed a Series A venture round and are starting to scale. Their technologies span across many sectors of the energy space, from energy efficiency and transportation, to renewable power generation and water technology.
Greentown embodies the sort of free-market enterprise that is convincing increasing numbers of conservatives to back the clean energy movement. Investing in clean energy businesses like Greentown’s member companies drives job creation and local economic development and strengthens national security.
If you have a few minutes, we recommend exploring a few of the companies on their members page. On the heels of National Small Business Week, these startups are demonstrating how America can keep its competitive edge in the 21st Century.
We’re so delighted to hear of their success and the bright future their new headquarters represents. Greentown is a good friend and reliable partner of ours, and they participated in last year’s first-annual National Clean Energy Week. In fact, Dr. Reichert was a featured speaker—you can watch her presentation here. We also encourage you to read her great op-ed from this past December, which features CRES polling.