Innovate UK Opens Applications for Seventh Cohort of NYU Tandon's Global Incubator Programme

Innovate UK is accepting applications through September 4 for the seventh cohort of its Global Incubator Programme, a U.S. market-entry accelerator for UK climate tech startups run in partnership with the Urban Future Lab at NYU Tandon School of Engineering in Brooklyn.

The program is seeking eight UK companies working in clean energy, from energy systems and industrial decarbonization to next-gen storage, grid modernization, hydrogen, low-carbon fuels, and carbon capture.

Selected companies get six months of virtual mentorship plus two New York visits (an Immersion Week in November and a Showcase Week in March), with Innovate UK covering flights, accommodation, and group transfers for one representative per company.

The call comes as the program's track record has grown harder to ignore. Over six years and six cohorts, it has supported 44 startups, generated 152 strategic connections, and driven 24 strategic shifts in how those companies approached the U.S. market, producing 29 U.S. contracts or pilots and five U.S. offices opened.

Four alumni illustrate what that looks like in practice. Carbon data company Sylvera (Cohort 3) used the program to sharpen its go-to-market approach and its read on U.S. procurement dynamics, and has since landed Salesforce, Chevron, and Cargill as clients, opened a permanent New York office, and closed a $57 million Series B.

Thermal battery maker Sunamp (Cohort 2) built its North American go-to-market strategy through the program, leading to a distribution partnership with California-based FlowTech and a $668,000 NYSERDA award funding a $1.1 million New York demonstration project.

Construction ESG platform QFlow (Cohort 4) used its time in the program to land partnerships with two U.S. construction firms and complete an integration with Procore, the industry's standard project-management software; it has since earned B Corp certification with a 100.3 score.

And GyroPlant (Cohort 6), which makes reusable growing media for indoor farms, opened a U.S. office, incorporated stateside, secured a $500,000 U.S. Space Force contract for microgravity trials, and closed a $70,000 sale to a Japan-based vertical farming operator, all within the six-month program.

Innovate UK says it's looking for companies with a novel solution and early proof - climate impact data or reference customers - a leadership team willing to spend real time in New York rather than delegating to junior staff, and at least a working hypothesis for U.S. market entry.