accelerate transportation and energy technologies in the state, was announced as a winner of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Growth Accelerator Fund Competition. As such, NextEnergy was awarded $50,000, and CEO Jean Redfield said the organization will use the grant to spur development of Michigan’s smart cities cluster.
Redfield said NextEnergy will serve as a bridge between the sectors involved in smart cities technology—energy, automotive/mobility, infrastructure, and communications—and the “innovation pipeline” working to support those technologies, including startups, research universities, and national labs.
“We’re helping to drive investment in these technologies by connecting startups in the pipeline with market opportunities in the existing global supply chain in energy and transportation,” Redfield said. “It can be a very long leap and hard to break in to. The SBA grant is about identifying and convening players in the cluster and putting together partnerships to do demonstration projects and co-development work.”
Redfield said Michigan’s long history with the auto industry make it a place ripe to develop the technologies needed to fuel smart cities. Redfield was also happy to see Sakti3, a former NextEnergy client, being praised at the White House demo day event.
“Michigan startups and service providers getting this kind of recognition is very exciting,” she added. “It shows our ecosystem is vibrant and our startups are investible.”
