Schmidt Foundation Backs The Engine’s Climate Decelerator Initiative

New initiative will preserve critical knowledge, data, and IP from stranded climate ventures, expanding philanthropic support for The Engine that includes Rockefeller, Moore, MassCEC, and others.

CAMBRIDGE, MA, UNITED STATES, September 8, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — A year after becoming an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit, The Engine, a nonprofit incubator and accelerator founded by MIT in 2016, has become a catalytic destination for funders to support commercialization of hard science that aims to solve our toughest problems.

With support from the Schmidt Family Foundation, the Engine has launched a new pilot initiative called the Decelerator, aimed at preserving institutional knowledge, data, and informal IP from climate ventures that plan to wind down. The Decelerator will work with founders to contextualize and distill their knowledge and work into an open repository accessible to future founders and researchers. It aims to preserve successes for others to build on and, just as importantly, to preserve lessons from failure for others to learn from. With this initiative, we can create public goods, thereby increasing the efficiency of the ecosystem as a whole.

“We don’t have time to spare if we are going to achieve our climate objectives. Our innovation ecosystem is strong, but we wondered if we could capture more value for society from investments that have already been made to serve as building blocks for future founders,” said Kyle McEneaney, director of the Climate Tech program at the Schmidt Family Foundation. “By preserving and putting these assets back to work, we can make the climate innovation ecosystem more efficient. Accelerators are a natural distribution point for innovation at risk of being stranded, and we hope this pilot initiative becomes a model that others can take up.”

Learn more about the Decelerator at http://engine.xyz/decelerator.

In the past year, a variety of funders have each committed to a distinct piece of The Engine’s work: national fellowships for scientist-inventors, climate infrastructure, IP preservation, and programming to directly support research translation and venture formation. Together, these investments are helping The Engine evolve from a collection of programs into a connected platform for Tough Tech entrepreneurship, where founders and researchers can access the programs, infrastructure, capital, and partners they need to move breakthrough technologies from idea to market. Taken together, they form a strong signal: a growing number of funders are treating the physical, capital, and programming infrastructure around hard science not just as the science itself, but as the leverage point.

The Engine exists because breakthrough science and engineering (“Tough Tech”) doesn’t move from lab to market on its own. The technology solutions and early startup teams taking them to market need education, incubation, and acceleration built specifically for ventures with long R&D timelines and capital-intensive paths, plus an ecosystem willing to study what works and share it.

“Partnering with Schmidt on this initiative is an incredible opportunity to drive greater impact in climate. We’re proud to count Schmidt among a growing group of philanthropic partners whose support is accelerating different aspects of our mission,” said Emily Knight, CEO of The Engine. “We’re building The Engine into a platform for Tough Tech entrepreneurship, strengthening what we do best while connecting founders to partners who can provide the capital, expertise, infrastructure, and pathways they need. Philanthropic and public-sector partners are helping us build different pieces of that platform and extend its reach nationally.”

National Science Foundation (NSF) is extending its award to The Engine to lead The Builder Platform, a program supporting the inaugural and second cohort of NSF Regional Innovation Engines across the country. Through The Builder Platform, The Engine provides 21 regional ecosystems with tailored guidance, peer learning communities, convenings, and on-demand advisory support as they build durable innovation economies across the country. Learn more at builderplatform.engine.xyz/ecosystems.

The Rockefeller Foundation is making Tough Tech resources more accessible. With its support, The Engine is building out and expanding its founder support nationally, including bringing its Blueprint accelerator to new geographies, growing its open-source content libraries, and building the Tough Tech Map to allow startups to find critical infrastructure nationally. Learn more at rockefellerfoundation.org/grants/the-engine-coalition-2025/.

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation is funding three years of programming and entrepreneurial training for the Moore Inventor Fellows, a national community of 50 scientist-inventors commercializing their research.

Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) has awarded The Engine two grants to strengthen its support for climatetech founders, including funding for early-stage teams in the Blueprint accelerator and a seven-figure investment in equipment and infrastructure.

Cummings Foundation is funding three years of The Engine’s core incubation and acceleration work for high-impact lab-to-market startups across Massachusetts. Learn more here.

MassCollab is funding a deeper partnership between Activate and The Engine that will bring Activate Boston Fellows into The Engine’s Cambridge facilities and expand joint programming, commercialization support, and resources for Tough Tech Founders.

About The Engine
Founded by MIT in 2016, The Engine is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit that moves Tough Tech — breakthrough science and engineering solutions to some of the world’s hardest challenges — from the lab to lasting global impact. It supports Tough Tech startups with the programming, infrastructure, and funding connections they need to grow, and shares what it learns so other Tough Tech ecosystems can progress.

Gifts from individuals and institutions aligned with its mission directly expand the programming, infrastructure, and resources available to Tough Tech companies. To learn how to support The Engine or explore partnership opportunities, visit engine.xyz/support.

Raphaele Schnoll
Raphaele Schnoll Communications
+1 312-339-8662
raphaele@raphaeleschnoll.com

Media gallery