DiMasi Proposes $50 Million Program to Jumpstart Clean Energy Startups in Massachusetts; Renewable Energy Fund Would Be Slashed

Initiative, employers in the state will first be surveyed to find out what kinds of energy-related positions are going unfilled. Then the program would assist public and private universities and colleges, including community colleges and vocational-technology schools, to develop the new curricula and degree or certificate programs needed to produce qualified workers. “It could be things like teaching workers how to deploy photovoltaics, or weatherize buildings, or engage in fermentation research for cellulosic biofuel companies, or maintain wind turbines,” d’Arbeloff explains. “The goal is not to give educational institutions every dollar they need to teach students, but to ensure that the curricula get developed.”

Compared to Governor Patrick’s $1 billion life sciences investment package, $50 million for a Clean Energy Center may not sound like much money. But Peter Rothstein, an executive-in-residence at Flagship Ventures who is co-chairing NECEC’s seed grant program committee with Andrews, says the program doesn’t have to be huge to make a difference. “We are not trying to solve everything at once here,” says Rothstein. “We are trying to address some of the biggest opportunities and gaps and needs, so that we can have a vibrant, growing clean energy cluster, starting with the early stages of technology-based innovation, where we think we can have the biggest bang for the buck.”

And since only Massachusetts entrepreneurs will be eligible for the center’s grants and fellowships, that bang should be felt right here. “There is a frightening amount of Massachusetts capital that flows out of our borders for lack of appropriate ventures here at home,” d’Arbeloff says. “I think that both the seed grant program and the fellowship program will go a long way toward ensuring that there is a very large farm team of young clean energy ventures created here in Massachusetts that can absorb that capital and keep it within the commonwealth.”

Author: Wade Roush

Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco. Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.) I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia. I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats. My personal site: waderoush.com My social media coordinates: Twitter: @wroush Facebook: facebook.com/wade.roush LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/waderoush Google+ : google.com/+WadeRoush YouTube: youtube.com/wroush1967 Flickr: flickr.com/photos/wroush/ Pinterest: pinterest.com/waderoush/