Over 300 leaders and aspiring entrepreneurs from all over New England attended the Cleantech Open Northeast's Innovation Expo and Gala last night at the Boston University School of Management. Out of 32 finalists, four startups were selected as standouts. Of the 32 companies graduating the 2013 Cleantech Open Northeast accelerator, 7 are based in greater New York City, 16 in the greater Boston area. The lucky foursome will go on to compete in the National competition in California, where their tech will have to hold its own against the winners from other regions' finalists.
Out of the four winners, two best-of-show startups–NBD Nanotechnologies and ReFresh–were born and raised in Boston. Both companies are currently working out of Greentown Labs, the city's clean tech incubator that recently relocated to Somerville.
MassChallenge alum NBD Nanotechnologies has developed a series of superhydrophobic surface coatings that may be used to improve the condensation capabilities of industrial heat exchangers by 200 percent and increase overall performance of these systems.
Uniting the convenience of bottled water and the economic benefits of drinking from the tap, ReFresh has created an energy efficient vending machine that sells, collects and cleans repurposed water bottles. The startup claims that it will both boost vending operators' profit margins by over 20 percent, while lowering CO2 emissions by 80 percent.
The other two winners, HEVO Power and Sealed, are both based out of New York City, the third hottest clean tech community in the country.
