The CS3 VALIDATE Accelerator program helps early-stage student and faculty innovators transform promising research and ideas into technologies with real-world commercial potential through hands-on education, mentorship, and customer validation. Offered by Columbia University in partnership with the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Smart Streetscapes (CS3) and Columbia’s Start Me Up Bootcamp, the program is tailored for startups in the smart cities and urban tech space. Teams will compete for up to $10,000 in CS3 funding and may be eligible for up to $50,000 in NSF National I-Corps funding to help accelerate their ventures.

The Carbontech Development Initiative is designed to fund both internal and external R&D and through a commercialization grant-making and training program support acceleration of a technical ecosystem that can achieve synergistic impacts by bringing together regional carbontech expertise, stakeholders, innovators, and industry.

- We welcome undergraduate, graduate, postdoc, and faculty applicants from schools across Columbia, FAU, Lehman, and Rutgers.

- At least one team member must be affiliated with a CS3-funded project. Otherwise, CS3 leadership team will determine project fit to the Center's mission and identify an affiliated faculty advisor to provide guidance throughout the program.
- Applicant team must be working on an idea or prototype for an innovative urban tech solution within the 3 topic areas below and/or something within the Center’s five research thrusts:

         - Resilient & Responsive Cities: How can cities become more adaptive, efficient, and                             responsive?
         - AI for Safer Streets: How can AI transform transportation safety?
         - Community-Driven Innovation: How can communities shape technology to collectively                       improve everyday life at the neighborhood scale?

- Team must commit 5-10 hours per week for weekly course sessions, customer discovery, business validation, and product build for their ventures.
- Preference for two or more team members – both willing to commit to program’s requirements (I-Corp and CS3-specific programming).
- Team must commit to attending ALL weekly sessions taking place Friday mornings on Zoom between October - December 2026.
- Student participants should plan to register for Independent Study credit through their department for Fall 2026 if possible

For more information, please visit our website and join us for our information sessions above.

The Carbontech Development Initiative is designed to fund both internal and external R&D and through a commercialization grant-making and training program support acceleration of a technical ecosystem that can achieve synergistic impacts by bringing together regional carbontech expertise, stakeholders, innovators, and industry.

CDI has three programs, two Research Programs and one Commercialization Program:

Research Programs: 

CDI's research programs will advance the research needed to underpin development of technologies that enable harvesting of carbon from the environment and from waste streams and converting it for use in widely-used products. CDI will focus on accelerating technology from benchtop to commercialization through competitive research programs. 

1. Propel Carbontech (External to Columbia)
Propel Carbontech will award a total up to $500,000 in grant funds annually to between four and eight projects focused on CDIs eligible technologies at Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 2-3.

- Teams must be external to Columbia University.

- Individual project awards: $50,000 to $150,000.
- Project Duration: 12 to 18 months and must be completed including submission of all deliverables by June 30, 2027.

2. Carbontech Leap (Columbia University only)
Carbontech Leap will award a total up to $500,000 in grant funds annually to a minimum of two projects that focus on CDIs eligible technologies and are at Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 2-3. 

- This program is open to applicants who are core faculty members of Columbia University 

- Individual project awards: Up to $250,000 (Leap project are eligible for cost-share, please see program application for more details).
- Project Duration: Up to 24 months and must be completed including submission of all deliverables by June 30, 2027.

Commercialization Program

Bridge Carbontech (Startups only)

CDI's Bridge Carbontech program will support startups at mid-stage (TRL 4-6) and later-stage (TRL 6-9) commercialization focused on CDI's eligible technologies. Successful applicants will receive non-dilutive grant funding that pays for the costs to advance their commercial readiness which, depending on the stage of the company, could include prototypes, in-field testing, marketing, design, accounting, legal and other costs, as well as salary support to add senior personnel. Successful applicants will also go through a rigorous training program consisting of bootcamps and skills labs tailored to support the carbontech focus of the program. Successful applicants will enumerate business and technical milestones corresponding to addressable barriers and will develop a work plan to develop essential tools for ensuring that achieved milestones translate into durable practices. The overall goal of the program is to strengthen New York State as a global carbontech hub by facilitating the creation, validation, and launch of cutting-edge solutions. 

Bridge Carbontech will award a total up to $1,687,000 in grant funding for up to six projects annually. Teams must be external to Columbia University.

- Individual project awards: $287,500 to $375,000.
- Project Duration: Up to 24 months and must be completed including submission of all deliverables by June 30, 2027.

The Carbontech Development Initiative is designed to fund both internal and external R&D and through a commercialization grant-making and training program support acceleration of a technical ecosystem that can achieve synergistic impacts by bringing together regional carbontech expertise, stakeholders, innovators, and industry.

Optional Day Information or Subheader

This is an additional option for a descriptive block to let guests know about an aspect of your event program, a future event, a product, or anything else that might be helpful for them to know.

The Center for Smart Streetscapes (CS3) is a National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center created in 2022 taking a new approach to smart cities and streets by prioritizing community input, organizational partnerships, and education initiatives in the research process. Based in Harlem, New York, the center is a partnership between Columbia University, Lehman College, Florida Atlantic University, and Rutgers University.

The Carbontech Development Initiative is designed to fund both internal and external R&D and through a commercialization grant-making and training program support acceleration of a technical ecosystem that can achieve synergistic impacts by bringing together regional carbontech expertise, stakeholders, innovators, and industry.

This is an optional description text for the video. If not needed, this can be hidden or deleted.