Incubators for Collaborating & Leveraging Energy And Nanotechnology (iCLEAN) was founded by the Energy and Environmental Technology Applications Center (E2TAC) at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE), in partnership with the Hudson Valley Center for Innovation. Funded in part through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and supported by the National Science Foundation's Partnerships for Innovation Program, iCLEAN serves nanotechnology and clean energy companies throughout the "Tech Valley", a 19-county region that encompasses the Capital Region, parts of the North Country, Hudson Valley, and Mohawk Valley.
The primary collaborators, along with a cadre of supporting partners and affiliates, represent a carefully crafted partnership of highly qualified and experienced Tech Valley institutions that have banded together as a team to offer the region's entrepreneurs, scientists, innovators, inventors, and students the highest levels of nanotechnology and energy-focused incubation, including facilities, access to scientific research and development, academics, proven business commercialization and acceleration experience, manufacturing and training expertise, along with executive mentoring and education and outreach programs.
Each primary collaborator is committed to three overriding principles:
1. Clean energy technology and business development
2. Commercialization acceleration
3. Education and training
Coinciding with these principals, the iCLEAN partners are dedicated to education, training, providing a testing environment for innovative nanotechnology and clean energy technologies as well as providing professional office, meeting and conference environments, light manufacturing, and research facilities that will continue to expand the nucleus of a strong nanotechnology and clean energy cluster within the Tech Valley.
The ultimate goal is to aggregate the current forms of nanotechnology and clean energy being developed within the laboratory and incubation facilities, along with new emerging technologies developed from within the consortium's current and future member companies, to create a cohesive roadmap capable of producing significant sector workforce development, new innovations and intellectual properties, advanced education curriculums, community education and awareness that can be extended for statewide, nationwide, and global applications.
iCLEAN was founded on the premise that emerging nanotechnology and clean energy innovations can only be meaningfully commercialized when they are scaled for the future.