ACRE
1- to 2-year incubator for early stage startups in the cleantech sector
Focus Areas
- Smart Cities
- Smart Grid
- Smart Mobility
- AgTech
- Energy Storage
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Discover Our Programs
Apex
Veterans Future Lab is an incubator dedicated to ventures led by veterans and military spouses. Its 9-month, no-cost Apex program provides mentorship, support, and resources needed to start and grow high-impact companies
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Carbon to Value (C2V) Initiative
C2V is a 6-month accelerator for carbontech startups who will engage with the Carbontech Leadership Council, an invitation-only group of leaders driving the future of carbontech. Developed in partnership with Greentown Labs and Fraunhofer USA TechBridge
Focus Areas
- Carbontech
- Climate Change
- Climatetech
- Carbon Neutral
- Carbon Negative
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Catalyst NYC
6-month program for pre-seed to seed-stage startups
Focus Areas
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Augmented Reality (AR)
- Cloud Computing
- Computer Vision
- Cybersecurity
- Data & Analytics
- Machine Learning
- Smart Cities
- Smart Mobility
- Virtual Reality (VR)
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Clean Start
1-semester advanced diploma program for professionals seeking to transition into or enter the clean energy field
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Faculty in Residence
Appointed NYU faculty mentors for Future Labs companies
Focus Areas
- Various Focus Areas
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NYU Tandon Future Labs A/X Venture Studio
Building viable startups out of NYU’s world-class IP
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Global Incubator Programme
6-month program serving as US landing pad for 8 early-stage climate-focused companies from Innovate UK looking to explore the potential of the market.
Focus Areas
- Clean Energy
- Energy Storage
- Climate Change
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Low-Carbon Hydrogen Accelerator (LCHA)
The Low-Carbon Hydrogen Accelerator (LCHA) is a first-of-its-kind startup accelerator focused on advancing innovations key to enabling a low-carbon hydrogen economy. A partnership between EPRI, Shell, the City of Houston, Greentown Labs & Urban Future Lab
Focus Areas
- Carbon Negative
- Carbon Neutral
- Carbontech
- Climatetech
- Climate Change
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Next Round
1- to 2-year incubator for seed-stage to Series A startups
Focus Areas
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Augmented Reality (AR)
- Cloud Computing
- Computer Vision
- Cybersecurity
- Data & Analytics
- Emerging Media
- Foundational AI
- Hardware / Robotics
- HealthTech
- Impact/Responsible AI
- Machine Learning
- Sensory AI
- Smart Cities
- Smart Mobility
- Urban Systems
- Voice Process Automation (VPA)
- Virtual Reality (VR)
- Web3
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NYPA Innovation Challenge
A business accelerator for early stage electric vehicle and energy storage startups.
Focus Areas
- Clean Energy
- Smart Cities
- Smart Grid
- Energy Storage
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NYU HealthTech Transformer Challenge
NYU studio for startups solving healthcare’s most pressing problems, with $55,000+ in funding and six paid internships available
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NYU InnoVention
The prototyping competition that challenges NYU students across the globe to prototype and pitch commercially viable ideas for real-world problems
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Veterans Entrepreneurship Training I (VET-I)
Free 12-week educational program for active duty service members, veterans, and military spouses
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Veterans Entrepreneurship Training II (VET-II)
Free intermediate 12-week program for service members, military veterans, and their spouses
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After relocating from San Francisco to New York City and joining the program, we were immediately plugged into a wide network of advisors and resources that opened up a world of possibilities. We were thrilled to discover how NYU and the Future Labs have cultivated a rich ecosystem of machine learning and artificial intelligence-focused researchers and startups, which is especially beneficial to Paperspace.
Dillon Erb
Cofounder, Paperspace
Building a startup is incredibly challenging, but having the support of the Future Labs, its leaders, and other portfolio companies was a huge advantage. They helped us set up basic infrastructure like banking, legal, and VC intros and allowed us to spend our time building our product. The community provided the support network we needed to build, launch, and ultimately scale. We wouldn't be here today without their help.
Adam Goldstein
Cofounder, Vettery
ACRE was invaluable in supporting our company's entry in the U.S. market. In our early efforts to develop a first-of-its-kind project under the state's Reforming Energy Vision, Pat and her team helped Opus One develop a presence in New York with key utility and regulatory introductions, media, and funding partners. ACRE's support reaffirms its commitment to cleantech companies and continuing to support our rapid growth.
Joshua Wong
Founder, Opus One Solutions
From day one, we knew we’d aligned with people and a program that shared our values of hard work, persistence, and partnership. Each company gets what it needs based on where it is right now. At no moment do you get the sense that you’re part of an assembly line. From the thoughtful choice of mentors to the above-and-beyond that the first-class Future Labs staff goes to increase your chances for success, you’d be hard pressed to find a better program.
Michael Bishop
Cofounder, Alpha Vertex
After relocating from San Francisco to New York City and joining the program, we were immediately plugged into a wide network of advisors and resources that opened up a world of possibilities. We were thrilled to discover how NYU and the Future Labs have cultivated a rich ecosystem of machine learning and artificial intelligence-focused researchers and startups, which is especially beneficial to Paperspace.
Dillon Erb
Cofounder, Paperspace
Building a startup is incredibly challenging, but having the support of the Future Labs, its leaders, and other portfolio companies was a huge advantage. They helped us set up basic infrastructure like banking, legal, and VC intros and allowed us to spend our time building our product. The community provided the support network we needed to build, launch, and ultimately scale. We wouldn't be here today without their help.
Adam Goldstein
Cofounder, Vettery
About
Started as a partnership between New York University Tandon School of Engineering (NYU Tandon), the City of New York, NYSERDA, and the New York Economic Development Corporation, the Future Labs formed in response to the financial crisis of the early 21st-century. Meant to diversify and grow the city's economic engines, the labs fostered — and continue to nurture — New York City's business community by leveraging NYU's resources and providing bespoke support to past and present startups within its network. Educational programs and events further inform and create connections within the city's entrepreneurial community.
Labs Across NYC
Proven Impact
We help power the economy of New York City.
Economic Impact
$4.1B
Between 2009 and 2017, our startups and programs had an impact of $4.1 billion on New York City and, in 2017 alone, $1.1 billion on New York state.
Jobs Created
3,200
Since our inception, our companies have added more than 3,200 new jobs in New York.
Startups Graduated
200+
Our accelerator and incubator programs have graduated more than 200 companies since 2009.
Companies Acquired
40
In 10+ years, we've seen 40 of our companies and graduates acquired for a combined total of $940+ million.
Our History
2009
In partnership with NYCEDC, the Varick Street Incubator, the Future Labs’ initial incarnation and the city’s pilot incubator, opens in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. It houses the city’s first cleantech incubator, ACRE, supported by the New York State Energy Development Authority (NYSERDA).
2010
Pixable becomes the first company to graduate from the incubator.
2011
NYU Tandon opens a second incubator in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood.
2014
The Urban Future Lab, the first location to take the Future Labs name, opens at the NYU Tandon campus in downtown Brooklyn. ACRE relocates there.
2015
APRIL Clarifai becomes the 50th startup to graduate from the Future Labs.
AUGUST The first cohort of our Veterans Entrepreneurship Training (VET) program graduates.
2016
JULY The Varick Street and DUMBO incubators rebrand as the Data Future Lab and Digital Future Lab, respectively.
SEPTEMBER We welcome the first cohort of our AI NexusLab, New York City's first accelerator for artificial intelligence (AI) startups.
2017
The Veterans Future Lab opens in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. It houses the VET program and features a prototyping space. It becomes the first Future Lab to reach beyond technology to serve all startups founded by military personnel, veterans, and their spouses.
2018
Data Future Lab launches Catalyst NYC, a program to provide structured mentorship and support to prepare pre-seed to seed companies for institutional funding.
2019
The first annual Veterans Future Lab Summit launches, an event dedicated to veteran entrepreneurship. The VFL's Apex incubator program reaches founders across the country by offering housing support for select accepted vetrepreneurs relocating to NYC.
2020
EVBox, a graduate of Urban Future Lab's ACRE incubator, goes public. The SPAC acquisition deal values EVBox (rebranded as EVBox Group) at over $1.4B.
In The Media
NYU Tandon School of Engineering Develops CPAP Alternative For Mechanical Ventilators
Designed by a team led by Vikram Kapila, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at NYU Tandon, with...
April 9, 2020
NYU answers desperate need for medical face shields with low-cost, quick-production design
“We are organizing manufacturers across the tri-state area to make the face shield using a variety of manufacturing...
March 27, 2020
Hive Mind of Makers Rises to Meet Pandemic
Many of the ideas have come to fruition in a remarkably short time. “It started last week on...
March 30, 2020
NYU incubator celebrates 20th exit via acquisition
A start-up incubator at New York University (NYU) recently celebrated its 20th company to be acquired by an...
May 22, 2019
Vet entrepreneurship program offers mentoring, networking — and free housing too?
Through shared office space and other perks offered through the year-long Veterans Future Lab Apex program, veteran entrepreneurs...
January 31, 2019
Cleantech Open Northeast and Urban Future Lab Announce Partnership to Advance Cleantech Innovation to Address Climate Change in New York
Urban Future Lab and Cleantech Open Northeast share a common goal: to enable cleantech startups to get market...
April 15, 2020
The Latest
Article
The Third Wave of Sales
The third wave of sales is here, and with it the humanization of AI technology guiding managers.
June 2, 2021
Article
10 years of innovation at the NYU Tandon Future Labs
In the decade since we launched, NYC has turned into one of the strongest tech entrepreneurship ecosystems on the planet. We’ve got a lot to celebrate — and a lot of people with whom to celebrate. On 10/10, we brought together our supporters, partners and startups for a bang-up blowout at our new home in Downtown Brooklyn featuring trophies, news of an exit, a proclamation, and more
October 18, 2019
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