Today, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced the startups chosen to participate in the AWS Sustainable Cities Accelerator for Infrastructure. These startups are developing groundbreaking solutions to help cities address infrastructure-related sustainability challenges. Infrastructure, or the built environment, encompasses all aspects of our lives, and includes real estate, manufacturing, power, utility, and transportation systems.

Amazon Web Services will offer cloud education and mentorship for startup companies that want to develop infrastructure management tools through the third iteration of the Sustainable Cities Accelerator program.

The Exelon Foundation and Exelon Corporation (Nasdaq: EXC), a Fortune 200 company and the nation’s premier energy transmission and distribution utility company, have selected nine startups to receive funding as part of its Climate Change Investment Initiative (2c2i), a 10-year, $20 million initiative that focuses on start-ups with bright ideas and clean energy and environmentally sustainable technologies with potential for wide-scale impact.

On Tuesday, May 24, Max Peterson, vice president of worldwide public sector at Amazon Web Services (AWS), took the keynote stage at AWS Summit Washington, DC to share announcements, news, and stories of how our public sector customers are leveraging the cloud to deliver mission-critical outcomes.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is pleased to officially announce the innovative startups chosen to participate in the AWS Sustainable Cities Accelerator. The 12 companies were selected from hundreds of applications, representing 19 countries, by a panel of experts from AWS, Freshwater Advisors, and Public Spend Forum. The types of startups that applied to the program ranged from pre-revenue to $50 million in annual revenue and from one to more than 500 employees.

Freshwater Advisors is working with Exelon Corporation and the non-profit Exelon Foundation to identify promising early-stage companies for the 2nd annual Climate Change Investment Initiative (2c2i).

We are happy to announce the selection of the 10 finalists and participants in the inaugural AWS Clean Energy Accelerator program. These ten companies were selected by a panel from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Freshwater Advisors, from 218 applications received from 38 countries around the world.

The Exelon Foundation and Exelon Corp., the nation’s largest generator of carbon-free energy, have selected nine startups to receive funding to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change as part of the company’s Climate Change Investment Initiative (2c2i). Now in its second year, the initiative demonstrates the Exelon Foundation’s commitment to support programs that benefit the environment, particularly those in underserved communities, which are disproportionately impacted by climate change. The 2c2i initiative adds to Exelon Corp.’s continuing goal to create a clean, next-generation energy grid, utilizing the innovative approach of impact investing to mitigate climate change.

Freshwater Advisors is featured in the Amazon Sustainability Report (pages 5 & 39). Amazon’s 2021 Sustainability Report builds on our sustainability progress over the last decade—particularly since 2019 when we co-founded The Climate Pledge and announced our commitment to achieve net-zero carbon emissions across our business by 2040. This report also includes our work on a wider range of Amazon commitments and initiatives to support our employees, our supply chain partners, and the communities where we operate around the world.

AWS Clean Energy Accelerator provides a unique platform to catalyze these collaborations and bring new solutions to market,” says David Weinstein, founder and chief executive officer of Freshwater Advisors. “We are delighted and honored to be working with AWS to launch this new accelerator and working towards collaborative solutions to help solve the energy and climate crisis.”

AWS is committed to innovation in energy and announced the AWS Clean Energy Accelerator program in May to help address the crucial need for clean tech innovation and collaborative solutions to address the global climate and clean energy challenges. The AWS Clean Energy Accelerator is being delivered in collaboration with Freshwater Advisors, a national innovation consultancy and venture catalyst.

The U.S. and its peers need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050, at the latest. However, this cannot be accomplished through policy alone. The Biden administration is counting on the private sector for solutions and hope.

Corporate America is emerging from an identity crisis. The era of maximizing shareholder value, promoted by Milton Friedman and perfected by GE’s Jack Welch, ended with the 08/09 financial crisis. A replacement model of capitalism that successfully balances profits and purpose has yet to gain traction. Why?

The Exelon Foundation and Exelon Corporation (Nasdaq: EXC), the nation’s largest generator of carbon-free energy and the largest energy service provider by customer count, have selected 10 startups to receive a combined $1 million in direct funding to develop new technologies to mitigate and build resiliency to the impacts of climate change in the inaugural year of the company’s $20 million Climate Change Investment Initiative (2c2iSM).

A welcome impact from the Covid-19 pandemic has been clearer skies and returning wildlife to usually polluted areas after industry, transport systems, and more shut down across the world, reducing carbon emissions.

In this episode of the Silicon Slopes Podcast "Meat & Potatoes", we are joined by David Weinstein, Founder and CEO of Freshwater Advisors, a national venture catalyst firm and innovation...

Facedrive Inc. (“Facedrive” or the “Corporation”) (TSXV: FD), the first Canadian peer-to-peer, eco-friendly ridesharing network, today announced that it has entered into a Strategic Service Advisory Agreement with Freshwater Advisors (“Freshwater”) to assist Facedrive in sourcing and developing environmentally focused partnerships to support Facedrive’s growth initiatives, specifically in the United States.

The Illinois Corporate-Startup Challenge is a national award–winning program that connects global corporations with the entrepreneurial community for mutual benefit. Developed in 2013 by the Illinois Science & Technology Coalition (ISTC), in partnership with consultant Freshwater Advisors, the program assembles a class of Fortune 1000 corporations every six months and helps them forge impactful partnerships (pilots / contracts, strategic partnerships, investments, and mentorship) with startup and emerging growth companies.

Archer Daniels Midland, American Electric Power, and Nicor Gas use CIB to source energy innovations in a new, efficient, and effective way. The Cleantech Innovation Bridge program is coordinated and produced jointly by Clean Energy Trust (CET) and Freshwater Advisors, with support from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s ChicagoNEXT initiative, the U.S. Department of Energy, Accenture, and Deloitte.

Deciding when and how to grow your business by expanding locations to an entirely new area can be a big challenge for small-business owners.Two companies that have figured out a way to overcome this challenge are Freshwater Advisors and Next Street Financial. Both companies have opened offices in another time zone under the premise that an additional geographic location could spur more growth.

If you're a minority woman looking to get into Chicago startups, Startup Institute and Freshwater Advisors want to give you $3,000 to help make the transition.

For a traditional company enjoying a long life span, being in business no longer means simply staying in business. To keep going — and growing — leaders of established companies know that they must constantly prepare for and engage with disruptive innovation rather than react to or fight against it.

We often hear about Illinois’ depth and diversity of global corporations, as well as our growing entrepreneurial community over the last few years – but some might not know about the powerful results that can occur when we mix them together. At the Illinois Science & Technology Coalition (ISTC), we are leading an effort to better bridge the state’s most promising startups and university spinouts with major corporations that are looking to innovate with partners outside their walls.

A discussion with David Weinstein, the Founder of Freshwater Advisors, on Bootstrapping and building a startup.

Few people have experienced the breadth and depth of Chicago's innovation scene as David Weinstein, founder and managing partner of innovation consultancy Freshwater Advisors. He was the founding president of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, he launched two technology companies, and he was a senior technology advisor to Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. Today, Weinstein scouts and matches entrepreneurs with large companies through custom programs, demo days and venture funds.

Pulling off separate showpiece days at Allstate, Molex and Moto Mobility ... Diligence done by workers at the ISTC and consultant Freshwater

About 18 Chicago startups are now working with Allstate, John Deere, Molex Inc., Motorola Mobility and Walgreens - thanks to the connections made from the Illinois Science & Technology Coalition’s Corporate-Startup Challenge. Yesterday at 1871 the ISTC, along with Governor Pat Quinn, showcased these relationships and announced the launch of the second Corporate-Startup Challenge this year.