California Sustainable Energy Entrepreneur Development (CalSEED) awardees joined a number of other exciting cleantech startups at CleanTech Open’s (CTO) National Academy West in June this year. “I really enjoyed the weekend in Fremont Joe Hinostroza of South 8 Technologies said after the event.

“Getting to see all the big cleantech companies around Fremont on the way to National Academy West was really inspiring for our staff and all the awardees,” said Autumn Elizabeth, marketing and communications manager of California Clean Energy Fund and an organizer of the CalSEED program.

This year, 17 CalSEED awardees participated in CTO, and a few more attendees were CTO alumni from previous years. “CTO provides a great opportunity to engage with experts from across the region; their insight is invaluable,” said Dan Poirier, co-founder and COO of Nativus.

The list of CalSEED awardees who participated in National Academy West is impressive and spans the range of cleantech sectors. Among them were companies working on adoption and access, including the Permanent Community Energy Cooperative of the Sustainable Economies Law Center, SunSwarm, CodeCycle, EnerDapt, and Correlate. There were also companies focused on energy efficiency like Nativus and Glint Photonics. Additionally, there were CalSEED CTO participants working on energy storage solutions, including Intertie Incorporated, South 8 Technologies, MMCISolar, and MOEV; and other teams working on energy generation and advanced manufacturing methods included Arctica Solar, Opus 12, Lucent Optics, Halo Industries, Sepion Technologies, and Maxout Renewables.

“CTO so far has proven beneficial for our company,” said Adam Plesniak of Arctica Solar. “Our team has already made some excellent relationships with other CTO companies. We look forward to continuing the program and think it will net some great value for Arctica,” he continued.

Just prior to the welcoming reception for National Academy West, CalSEED hosted its own gathering in a space generously donated by Owens Design, Inc. In this lovely venue, CalSEED awardees came together with the CalSEED team to foster connections and find new ways to work toward creating a truly collaborative cleantech ecosystem that supports

CalSEED is a grant and entrepreneur development program that works with diverse innovators in order to change the face of the energy sector. CalSEED is an initiative of the California Energy Commission and is administered by the California Clean Energy Fund along with other programs like New Energy Nexus.