Hub Commercialization Center: EEB Hub, BFTP launch incubator for clean-tech companies

The Navy Yard is getting its first business incubator, thanks to a partnership between the Energy Efficient Buildings (EEB) Hub and Benjamin Franklin Technology Partners (BFTP).

Named the Hub Commercialization Center, the incubator will be for companies focused on “improving energy efficiency in new and retrofitted buildings,” according to a release. Like a traditional incubator, it’ll offer support services and office space in the Navy Yard’s Building 101, where the EEB Hub is located, but it will also offer virtual services for companies, including a business plan review, market strategy development and mentoring, said Jim Gambino, BFTP’s Vice President of Technology Commercialization: Physical Sciences.

Apply here. There’s no posted deadline but the center will open in May.

The effort is part of a growing push to create a energy efficiency-focused tech hub at the Navy Yard, where just under half of the businesses fall into the tech or energy industry, according to Will Agate, senior vice president of Navy Yard management and development for the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation. It’s also an addition to the city’s bustling coworking and incubator scene.

“We want to be the premiere place in the country for any company who’s innovating in the building technology space,” said Laurie Actman, deputy executive director of the EEB Hub.

The Commercialization Center program is for both early-stage and established companies and expects the average residency to be about two years, Gambino said. The physical center will have space for seven companies with the possibility of expanding if there’s more interest.

There will be no guaranteed funding for the companies, Gambino said, but BFTP will introduce the participating companies to the venture firm’s network of investors.