Where climate breakthroughs begin: from university labs to global market
Written by Megha Mehdiratta and Emil Hammer
Can we use yeast to clean our drinking water? How can artificial intelligence help predict wildfires before they spread? How can 3D structures help us restore coral reefs?
These are real research questions being tackled at universities today. Breakthrough climate solutions often begin with a question that demands years of testing, refining, and iterating before they can become the basis for a full-fledged product or company. This stage, often called the Research and Development (R&D) stage involves founders or researchers, who are often PhDs, post docs, and graduate students, validating scientific assumptions, developing prototypes, and testing feasibility.
While early-stage R&D can be time consuming and costly, it forms the essential groundwork for turning ideas into vetted solutions. Universities play an essential role in providing what real-world markets cannot: time and space to explore uncertainty, and the resources to double down on promising ideas. These pathways from research to entrepreneurship are deeply embedded within The Exchange’s Climate Tech Fellowship and its broader university network.
Research in action: from questions to solutions
Patricia Stathatou and Christos Athanasiou’s work, for example, grew out of chemical engineering research on water systems. Their innovation uses waste yeast, an abundant byproduct of brewing and fermentation processes, to remove lead and harmful pollutants from water. Rather than relying on large, energy-intensive treatment plants, their approach enables small, self-sustaining purification units powered by natural biological processes. As Patricia describes it, innovation often comes from “reimagining waste as a resource,” and from translating lab-scale discoveries into scalable solutions. By designing their system to be low-cost and deployable in resource-constrained settings, they are working to ensure that clean water access can reach underserved communities, making equity a core design principle rather than an afterthought.
Xiao Liu’s research at Georgia Tech addresses wildfire prediction as a challenge with serious implications on public safety, grid operations, environmental management, and community resilience. Over the last few years, Xiao’s work has used data and AI to improve real-time decision-making capabilities during wildfire emergencies. This kind of research requires sustained collaboration across disciplines and the ability to test solutions in real world conditions, grounded in the knowledge that the real needs of our communities and users must shape how technology is designed and deployed. A utility company, an emergency dispatcher and a frontline community may all benefit from access to this tool, but they’re likely to have different needs and priorities.
Mauricio Hernandez at Duke University is working on GridSeer, an AI-driven analytics platform to improve grid reliability and affordability. The technology has evolved through both research and real-world testing, shaped by close engagement with potential customers and deployment partners. As Mau reflects, “We realized that the technology we developed could help organizations operate their energy systems more reliably and sustainably, and that meant being open to listening, learning, and adapting where the real demand was.”
Why universities are essential for climate innovation
Universities offer networks of expert faculty, peer researchers, and testing facilities that enable innovators to refine their technologies through rigorous iteration. They provide access to specialized resources before commercial viability needs to be proven. This environment is particularly critical for technologies like hydrogen storage, advanced materials, and energy systems, where proving technical feasibility can take years before market demand becomes clear.
Across The Exchange’s university network, institutions like Stony Brook University, Duke University, Georgia Tech, NYU and CUNY serve as foundational R&D anchors and tech commercialization hubs.
The Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC) at Stony Brook University’s campus provides access to advanced energy infrastructure, incubator facilities, and industry partnerships while remaining embedded in a research-first environment. Stephanie Taboada’s work with HySep, which focuses on safe hydrogen storage that utilizes existing natural gas pipelines, highlights this dynamic. The technology is deeply technical and capital-intensive, requiring long-term access to research support.
Duke University’s Marine Lab and Innovation Co-Lab provide research environments that span conservation science, energy systems, and advanced prototyping — enabling teams to test solutions in both laboratory and field contexts. Oceans at Duke is a multidisciplinary community of Duke’s scholars working on challenges to sustainable use of the oceans. Shannon Parker (ReefCycle) and Ty Roach (CoralReefArks) showcase how innovations emerging from this hub can build connections and partnerships that help them successfully deploy their coastal resilience and coral restoration technologies to protect ocean ecosystems from the impacts of climate change.
At Georgia Tech, interdisciplinary hubs such as SustainX and CreateX mobilize campus-wide expertise and world-class facilities to support sustainable systems innovation and the creation of new startups. NYU hosts the Urban Future Lab, the City’s longest running incubator, for best-in-class climate-tech startups with a focus on clean energy and sustainable urban infrastructure. At CUNY’s Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC), researchers work across environmental science, nanoscience, and sensor development, supported by shared facilities designed to accelerate experimentation and cross-disciplinary insight.
Charlie Mydlarz (FloodNet, NYU) and Fares Al-Lahabi (CarbonCLAIR, CUNY) both demonstrate how university-based research born in New York City can evolve into urban-ready solutions that address flooding, clean air and the promise of carbon capture. These approaches demand both scientific rigor and real-world testing and are uniquely suited to university-centered innovation pathways. After years of development in these university research environments, these solutions are ready to transition from lab-to-market – a critical juncture where programs like the Climate Tech Fellowship can provide the support needed to take the next step.
The Exchange can provide the launch pad for innovations emerging from university R&D to accelerate their path to real-world impact. Through its Fellowship, the Exchange is actively bridging university-based research environments with access to seasoned venture mentorship, cross-sector partnerships, and go to market coaching and pilot opportunities. This is how The Exchange helps bring promising ideas to fruition, enabling them to decarbonize energy systems, combat climate-related natural disasters, and build urban resilience.
To get an inside look at each of our eight Fellows’ six-month journey and the solutions they’re advancing across urban and coastal resilience, climate data, and energy and decarbonization, join The Exchange for a Climate Tech Showcase on February 26! Fellows will share what they’ve built, what they’ve learned, and what’s next as they move their innovations from lab to market.