Perched atop two floors of parking on the McKinstry campus, the Seattle-based consulting, construction, and energy firm has built the first real space of its kind dedicated entirely to fostering the local cleantech industry. The McKinstry Innovation Center is fast becoming a 24,000-square-foot oasis for up-and-coming clean energy startups.
Everything about this place, from the building materials it uses to the attitudes of the people inside, reflect its cleantech ethos. The walls are made from salvaged wood and metal bent in McKinstry’s in-house shop. The waste bins read “compost,” “recycle,” and “landfill.” A fallen tree from CEO Dean Allen’s property is saved, and recycled as a conference table. The word “Innovate” is mounted on the wall of the foyer in metal block letters. The space exudes creative—and clean—-energy.
Since plans for the Center were announced last October, the project has been hailed as ‘Seattle’s big cleantech hope.’ And since opening in May, it has sought to brand itself to be more than a traditional incubator—in fact, according to director Elsa Croonquist, the Center is more like a “commercialization accelerator,” poised to offer McKinstry’s significant resources, support, and office space to as many as 10 innovative cleantech startups for up to three years at a time. The idea is to help Seattle and the Pacific Northwest to become a leader in the cleantech space, just as the region has distinguished itself in so many other tech industries over the years. In just four short months, the McKinstry center has become beacon for many up-and-coming clean energy companies looking to plant green roots here in the Pacific Northwest.
“When industry meets, we hope they’ll meet here,” Croonquist says. “We really are trying to make this the base for energy, and renewables, and what’s happening here in Seattle.”
I had the pleasure of catching up with Croonquist a few weeks ago to chat about the center, the emerging cleantech space here in Seattle, and what she thinks is in store in the future of clean technology. As she showed me around the campus, I got a chance to see the center’s inspiration for clean innovation at work in both the space, and the three companies currently pursuing their dreams there.
“McKinstry definitely saw into the future and built a place where people can incubate that draws on innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Hydrovolts director of field operations and business development James Marvin. “[It’s] creating an opportunity to start drawing circles here in Seattle to help the country get back on their feet.”
Hydrovolts, the Seattle-based small hydrokinetic turbine developer, was the first startup to join the Center when it opened its doors just four months ago, followed by General Biodiesel, and most recently home energy retrofitting company EcoFab, which joined the McKinstry community in July.
According to Croonquist, this latest addition highlights a growing trend in the clean tech space. She described it as “auditing, retrofitting, and everything involved in the retrofitting of systems.”
One thing Croonquist emphasized is that while McKinstry is keeping an eye on cutting edge innovation, sometimes the big new product ideas aren’t so much about creating something
