2024 Urban Future Prize Competition

These awardees will also receive admission into the ACRE Incubator, New York’s longest-running and most successful climatetech program.

New this year, we will be running a prize track explicitly focused on climate adaptation and resilience, the Future Resilience Prize. Most funding to date has gone to address climate mitigation (e.g. decreasing emissions), but very little funding has gone to innovations that support the adaptation side of the climate crisis. According to UN estimates, the climate adaptation financing gap is as high as $366B annually. With the Future Resilience Prize, we hope to spotlight innovative climate adaptation and resilience solutions, catalyze more private investment into this space, and ensure a positive impact on vulnerable communities most adversely impacted by climate change.

All other climatetech startups can still apply for our generalist track, the Future Solutions Prize.

New York’s forward-thinking state and city governments, thriving tech sector, and massive market make it one of the top startup climatetech economies in the world. The city has become the ideal laboratory for creating sustainable solutions to the world’s most pressing climate challenges.

Tracks

• Climate Sector-Agnostic
  • Sponsored by The New York Community Trust and MUFG Bank
  • The Future Solutions Prize is our sector-agnostic prize track open to companies across all climate sectors.
• Climate Adaptation and Resilience
  • Sponsored by The New York Community Trust and MUFG Bank
  • The Future Resilience Prize is focused on climate adaptation and resilience. We will be paying particular attention to your solution’s impact on vulnerable communities when evaluating this prize track.

The Prizes

• The Urban Future Prize Competition seeks entrepreneurs who are building startups that contribute to a more resilient and sustainable planet. Two non-dilutive prizes of $50K each will be awarded to two companies who embody the drive and mission needed to address the greatest challenge of our time.

Benefits

• ACRE Incubator Membership: Acceptance and membership into New York City’s premier climatetech incubator, with incubator specific benefits and unmatched startup support.
• Recognition and Opportunities: Ecosystem recognition, media opportunities, and access to introductions to key partners in the public and private sectors.

The Urban Future Summit

• The Urban Future Prize Competition culminates with the Urban Future Summit, an event for climate entrepreneurs, technologists, government officials, business leaders, investors, and innovators in New York City. This year, on October 24th, the Urban Future Summit will feature pitches from finalists of the 2024 Urban Future Prize Competition; an industry panel discussion; and showcase the successes of past participants of the Prize Competition. We will also highlight the commitment of our sponsors as leaders who take constructive measures to improve and benefit our planet.

For more information, visit Urban Future Lab.