Design Climate had a breakout year for student ventures developing climate technologies – securing funding, earning awards and reaching commercial milestones.

Eight student teams advanced innovations on topics including data center energy efficiency, low-emissions plastics and geothermal energy, with three securing funding.

Grid Intelligence, an independently founded energy technology company led by Ava LeBron and Yiannis Lempidakis, develops software that helps grid-scale battery operators make better operational and market decisions. After founding the company, the team brought the venture into Design Climate to strengthen its commercialization strategy and expand its industry connections. Grid Intelligence won the Audience Choice Best in Showcase Award and the Climate and Sustainability Prize at the 2026 Duke Innovation and Entrepreneurship Startup Showcase, earning $8,000 in prize funding.

“We founded Grid Intelligence and brought the venture into Design Climate to accelerate its development and commercialization. The program gave us valuable mentorship, structure and industry connections as we worked to build a stronger company and connect our technology to real industry needs,” said Ava LeBron, co-founder of Grid Intelligence with Yiannis Lempidakis.

Infratech DC, a local startup developing energy-efficient cooling technologies for data centers, worked with Design Climate students to refine customer discovery, prototype a cooling-plate solution and connect with Duke’s innovation ecosystem. With Design Climate, the company has raised $50,000, won a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant, joined the NVIDIA Inception Accelerator Program and is pursuing its first commercial deployments.

Therian Biosciences, a faculty-led venture advancing bio-based approaches to reducing plastic waste, raised $50,000 to support prototyping work in Professor Jason Somarelli’s lab in the School of Medicine. The venture will continue development through Design Climate next year.

Over the course of the year, more than 40 students participated across eight teams in Design Climate’s two-semester program, conducting over 300 customer discovery interviews, building prototypes and pursuing funding opportunities.

Together, these successes demonstrate Design Climate’s ability to support founders and spur innovation, said Judy Ledlee, executive director of Design Climate.

“Duke is stepping up as a climate tech leader by investing in the solutions our future depends on. Through the Design Climate startup incubator, we’re teaching innovative and impact-minded students how to get customers excited by the technologies that foster sustainable futures. By training leaders and seeding ventures, Design Climate is helping grow the Triangle into an economic hub for sustainable businesses,” Ledlee said.

Building a Climate Tech Ecosystem

The program is a partnership between the Pratt School of Engineering and the Nicholas School of the Environment.

“The Design Climate partnership between Pratt and Nicholas enables Duke to accelerate solutions from our labs to the market. Students get a chance to learn entrepreneurship skills in a fast-paced, real-world setting while focusing on solutions to one of the world’s greatest challenges,” said Stanback Dean Lori Bennear of the Nicholas School of the Environment.

“Design Climate would not be where it is today without Judy Ledlee’s leadership. In just four years, she has built the program into a welcoming climate tech venture incubator for our students that are recognized across the Triangle region and has attracted philanthropic investment,” said Pratt School of Engineering Vinik Dean Jerry Lynch.

With support from Breakthrough Energy Discovery and a $500,000 gift from the Nicklesburg family, Design Climate is expanding its impact beyond Duke.

Across the Triangle, the program is strengthening connections among students, faculty, founders, investors and ecosystem partners, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, RTI International, Carolina Climate and Blueridge Climate Ventures. These collaborations are helping accelerate climate tech commercialization throughout the region.

Design Climate is also a member of Breakthrough Energy Discovery’s global network of more than 50 universities advancing climate and energy innovation. Through this partnership, students gain access to researchers, entrepreneurs and investors while sharing best practices with peer institutions around the world.

Launch of Climate Tech Studio

This year, Design Climate introduced a new course, Climate Tech Studio, aimed at providing students with deep experience in designing and prototyping climate tech devices. Devices prototyped in Spring 2026 included a dormitory energy and water use tracker, smart shutters to manage sunlight entry into buildings, a compost crusher to divert food waste, and mold and fungal detecting devices. The course offers a standalone opportunity for students to test, tinker and bring ideas to life, complementing the two-semester Design Climate course sequence for venture-building.

“Design Climate is launching startups, building an innovation engine and growing climate fluency across Duke. Students are learning how to apply interdisciplinary expertise to real climate challenges, translating ideas into solutions for our communities. That combination of technical knowledge, entrepreneurial thinking and climate literacy is exactly what universities need to prepare the next generation of leaders,” said Toddi Steelman, vice president and vice provost for climate and sustainability.

Looking Ahead

Heading into its fourth year, Duke’s Design Climate startup incubator is putting the Triangle region on the map as a hub for climate tech innovation.

This academic year, Design Climate will continue advancing its three-pronged model of climate tech education, startup support and ecosystem building. The incubator courses will run in both the fall and spring semesters, and Design Climate will join partners from around the state for Raleigh-Durham Climate Week Nov. 2-6.

This year, Design Climate has expanded partnerships, including with Oceans at Duke to explore blue tech solutions for climate and oceans.

As Design Climate enters its next phase, its focus is on transforming today’s momentum into lasting infrastructure for climate tech innovation, ensuring that promising ideas can move from the classroom and laboratory to the real world.

For more information, explore the 2025-2026 Design Climate Impact Report and visit the Design Climate website to learn more about the ventures, partnerships, student stories and climate tech momentum taking shape at Duke and across the Triangle.