As we continue our trek through the Bay Area’s innovation ecosystem, our next stop is 12 miles south of Warm Springs in San Jose. Prospect Silicon Valley (ProspectSV) just celebrated the grand opening of its, 23,000 square foot commercialization and technology demonstration center. Focused on catalyzing next-generation, cutting-edge innovation for smart, clean, connected cities, ProspectSV is the result of public-private-partnerships. While the demonstration facility was built by the City of San Jose, ProspectSV is an independent non-profit financed through revenue, grants and corporate sponsorship.

A few of the early successes for ProspectSV include:

  • Joining “NorthCAT” a unique partnership with the University of California Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Humboldt State University, and the Bay Area Climate Collaborative. The grant for this project totals $1.7 million to help build the infrastructure for North California Center for Alternative Transportation Fuels and Advanced Vehicle Technologies (NorthCAT).
  • Affliation with the LA Cleantech Incubator and the CleanTech Open under a regional California effort funded by $800K grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Incubator Initiative for Clean Energy (NIICE).
  • Working with Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) and a team of visionary partners under a $2 million grant by the U.S. Department of Energy to develop and demonstrate unique energy efficiency tools that will accelerate demand for retrofits in the small commercial building industry. Specifically PSV will connect with LBNL’s FlexLab, an advanced building efficiency test center.

ProspectSV’s technology demonstration center is part scientific laboratory, part co-working office space and part prototyping shop floor. It’s an ecosystem for energy and science companies, stakeholders and entrepreneurs. Case in point – ProspectSV features a vehicle systems lab where companies can demonstrate the commercial viability of their technology to customers. While not technically an incubator, short-term leases encourage early stage networking.

As with Hunter’s Point ProspectSV has a strong cleantech/sustainability focus and highlights the Bay Area’s strength in this sector. Stay tuned for tour Stop #3 in San Leandro!

Vehicle Systems Lab