InnovateMass

For the purposes of this RFP, the term “Climatetech” shall mean:

• “…advanced and applied technologies that significantly reduce or eliminate the use of energy from non-renewable sources including, but not limited to: (i) energy efficiency; (ii) demand response; (iii) energy conservation; or (iv) technologies powered, in whole or in part, by the sun, wind, water, geothermal energy, including networked geothermal and deep geothermal energy, hydrogen produced by non-fossil fuel sources and methods, alcohol, fuel cells, fusion energy or any other renewable, nondepletable or recyclable fuel…”
• …advanced and applied research in new clean energy technologies including: (i) solar photovoltaic; (ii) solar thermal; (iii) wind power; (iv) geothermal energy, including networked geothermal and deep geothermal energy; (v) wave and tidal energy; (vi) advanced hydropower; (vii) energy transmission and distribution; (viii) energy storage; (ix) renewable biofuels, including ethanol, biodiesel and advanced biofuels; (x) renewable, biodegradable chemicals; (xi) advanced thermal-to-energy conversion; (xii) fusion energy; (xiii) hydrogen produced by non-fossil fuel sources and methods; (xiv) carbon capture and sequestration; (xv) energy monitoring; (xvi) green building materials; (xvii) energy efficiency; (xviii) energy-efficient lighting; (xix) gasification and conversion of gas to liquid fuels; (xx) industrial energy efficiency; (xxi) demand-side management; and (xxii) fuel cells; provided, however, that ''clean energy research'' shall not include advanced and applied research in coal, oil, natural gas or nuclear power other than fusion energy…
• ...and any other advanced and applied technologies that contribute to the decarbonization of the economy, reduce and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions or mitigate the impact of climate change through adaptation, resiliency, and environmental sustainability”
• (See M.G.L. c. 23J § 1 as amended pursuant Chapter 179 of the Acts of 2022 “An Act Driving Clean Energy and Offshore Wind” and as further amendment pursuant “An Act Relative to Strengthening Massachusetts’ Economic Leadership”).
• Please note that technologies related to coal, oil, woody biomass, natural gas (except where used in fuel cells), or nuclear power other than fusion energy will not be considered Climatetech for purposes of this RFP.

Please refer to section IV. Eligibility of the RFP for complete eligibility requirements. To qualify as a Massachusetts-based company, the company must have a majority of its business operations in Massachusetts; whether that be an office, headquarters, incubator space, lab space, manufacturing, or sales and marketing. 

Yes, Applicants may submit multiple applications and participate in multiple Applicant Teams. 

At least one letter from a committed Demonstration Partner is required. Applicants usually provide a total of 1 to 3 letters of support. These are typically from project partners, such as a manufacturing partner or investor.

The InnovateMass Technical Assistant (TA) supports awardees through all phases of the project, from workplan development through the final report. They act as the day-to-day project managers representing MassCEC. MassCEC meets with the TA on a monthly basis to get a project status update on each awardee. 

Previous InnovateMass Awardees may apply to the Program only if they are proposing a technology that is new and distinct from that in the previously awarded project. In the Application, the Lead Applicant must explain how the project and product in this current proposal are meaningfully different than the previous InnovateMass product and project (from a technology and/or market perspective) and how these additional InnovateMass funds will be critical to the company’s overall success and the commercialization of the product moving forward.  In addition, the previous InnovateMass project must be completed before applying for a different InnovateMass grant.

The TAC is an estimate of the greenhouse gas emissions that can be reduced, avoided, or remediated assuming wide adoption of a technology or practice. The TAC analysis is designed to give both the applicant and MassCEC a strong sense of what sources of greenhouse gas emissions the proposed project would impact, and how large those potential impacts could be.

Applicants are encouraged to use tools such as the CRANE tool, or other credible public data sources such as the United States Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Emissions Inventory (especially for greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide), the EPA's Greenhouse Gases Equivalencies Calculator, and others. Analyses may be based on a state-wide, national, or international framing. Applicants should seek primarily to identify the total carbon emissions currently associated with the sector targeted by their technology or practice (for example, transportation or residential heating). For example, a technology to reduce the cost of solar panels would impact the approximately 1,250 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emitted every year from electricity generation in the United States.

To the greatest extent possible, applicants should also seek to estimate an “optimistically plausible” amount of those emissions that could be reduced, avoided, or remediated given widespread adoption of the proposed solution. Order-of-magnitude estimates are acceptable, as the goal of the analysis is primarily conceptual rather than precise. Applicants are encouraged to consider both direct and indirect effects as appropriate and to explicitly describe assumptions, especially assumptions related to cost reductions or barriers to adoption.

Acceptable alternatives to a TAC analysis include an avoided-energy analysis for energy efficiency technologies and LCOE reduction analyses for energy generation technologies.

"Public Benefit" Project Sites are defined as any of the following:

• Massachusetts publicly owned facilities
• Low/moderate income (LMI) residential buildings
  • Single-family homes that are owned by residents who earn less than 60% of statewide median income and have deed restrictions and/or fuel assistance verifications
  • Multifamily affordable housing buildings that have
    • an eligibility letter form the Low-Income Energy Affordability Network (LEAN)'s Low-Income Multifamily (LIMF) Energy Retrofits Program; OR
    • a deed restriction that explicitly states that the development has reserved at least 50% of the units for households earning 80% or less of state median income
• A site that has direct benefits to an Environmental Justice Community. Please refer to the RFP for further details.

"Public Benefit" Project Sites are eligible for a reduced cost share of 25%.