2025 Cohort Applications Open
Priority Deadline: September 15, 2024
Now Open: 2025 IMPEL Cohort Applications!
Join our Kickoff Webinar on August 2 (registration required) for details about the upcoming program and schedule, hear success stories from last year’s cohort, and meet our Expert Coaches, members of our Mentor Panel, and advisors from DOE and Berkeley Lab.
Ready to apply? Submit your application today.
Don’t miss out on an opportunity to join a visionary community dedicated to revolutionizing buildings, sustainability, and energy efficiency through innovative technologies.
Our Mission
IMPEL's mission is to promote equitable wellness and resilience in the built environment through the commercial advancement of net zero technologies.
Technology commercialization is notoriously challenging in the building sector. Building tech investments often require long horizons that our planet does not have time for. Additionally, many new projects and businesses fall victim to ‘Valleys of Death’ during their early development stages.
IMPEL equips early-stage innovators with technical and communication tools, so they can translate the premise and promise of new building technologies into the language of business.
Uniquely embedded at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab's Building Technologies Division, and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Building Technologies Office, IMPEL connects its Innovators to public and private sector pipelines, and a diverse network of investors, demonstration and technical experts, industry leaders, and policymakers to help our innovators reach their next milestone.
Source: Alumni Survey and Success Story Submissions through June 2024
Reach New Heights With Us
Upon acceptance into the program, all IMPEL Innovators have access to our Foundational Tools. Based on their engagement and performance in the program, they will selected for further opportunities, through our Advanced Training and powerful public-private sector pipelines.
Foundational Tools
(All current year cohort members)
Pitch coaching with our expert coaches at intensive workshops
Group Mentoring from our network of experts and partners
Carbon Tools training with National Lab scientists
Networking opportunities with a diverse community of like-minded Innovators
Advanced Training
(Select cohort members)
Business Seminars with our coaches to three days of Business Seminars for personalized coaching to develop an initial business plan and customized strategies for their project.
One-on-One Mentoring with our coaches to further develop pitches
Pipelines
(Select cohort members)
Pitch and Showcase Opportunities to public and private sector stakeholders with our partners at the U.S. Department of Energy and Greentown Labs.
Demonstration Opportunities as identified by the program
IMPEL Connects Innovators to Experts
The IMPEL Executive Team at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab supports Innovators' journeys through every step of the program, while connecting them to Expert Coaches, Incubators, Mentors, and a wider network within the building technology space.
Executive Coaches
IMPEL Coaches provide dynamic guidance during the one-day workshops to help Innovators refine and practice verbal pitches to communicate their technology or idea clearly, succinctly, and compellingly to critical stakeholders. Our coaches are field experts: skilled entrepreneurs who have raised multi-million dollar funds, judged startup pitches, coached technologists towards successful commercialization.
Incubator Access
IMPEL has partnered with Greentown Labs to provide real pitching opportunities and connections to a broader pool of mentors, investors, and other innovators in climate-tech. They help Innovators engage with the private sector, gain fully-funded access to national pitch events, and accelerators.
Expert Mentors
IMPEL Mentors represent investors from boutique and impact funds to financial giants, potential demonstration partners from major universities, state energy offices, and federal entities including the General Services Administration and the Department of Defense, major corporate ventures, and subject matter experts from national labs.
IMPEL's Innovators
Our Innovators have a passion for the building lifecycle (design, construction, operations, and circular technologies) and for energy technologies that integrate with buildings (onsite renewables or grid integration incorporating electrification, energy storage, and electric vehicle charging).
Learn more about our cohorts here.
Diverse, equitable, and inclusive
We believe that a diverse, equitable, and inclusive ecosystem of innovators magnifies our impact on the future of climate technology and on the communities we serve.