Climate Tech

Climate Tech refers to a broad range of technologies designed to mitigate the drivers and impacts of climate change. Development and commercialization of these technologies is essential if humanity is to maintain global prosperity while also avoiding catastrophic climate change. This immersion course provides students with the opportunity to work on a real-world technology to address climate change. Students will be placed in teams of four, composed of two CBS students and two SEAS engineering students. Student teams will be matched with venture capital funds actively financing climate tech that have identified an innovative technology for mitigating or adapting to climate change. Students will meet virtually with their assigned venture fund at the beginning of the course, during a mid-point check-in, and at the end of the course for the final presentation. Each team will be tasked with assessing their assigned technology on (i) technical viability, (ii) commercial opportunity, and (iii) impact on mitigating or adapting to climate change. The final course deliverables are a presentation to classmates, a presentation to each team’s assigned investment fund, and a written report or presentation deck for the investment fund. Students are also required to complete a reflections assignment at the conclusion of the course. During weeks 4 – 11 students will spend up to nine hours every week doing independent research, collaborating with the fund, and completing assignments. The purpose of this immersion course is for students to learn to work in teams across different skill sets and disciplines, combining expertise in business and engineering, with the objective of learning how to evaluate technology solutions to climate change. This course is designed to replicate the real-world experience in which collaborative teams use a multi-disciplinary approach to assess the opportunities, challenges, and impacts of new technology solutions to climate change.