Find, fund, and foster entrepreneurs with ideas to solve our greatest environmental and energy challenges

Calling all founders, entrepreneurs, investors, and startup ecosystem partners! . . . building on our successful 2025 Shell GameChanger Cohort 01, Deep Blue Academy and Cleantech Open NOLA are pleased to have selected our 2026 (second) New Orleans-based cohort of climate and cleantech startup companies to participate in the National Cleantech Open competition. Check back for news on our cohort members and upcoming events.

Deep Blue Academy and The Cleantech Open are proudly collaborating as 2025 GCxN Channel Partner Strategic Award winners for the Shell GameChanger Accelerator Powered by NREL. Now in our second year, we are pleased to be hosting the first Climate Tech / Cleantech accelerator program specifically focused on homegrown New Orleans region startups. In its first year, the program provided participation and travel funding assistance for 4 local cleantech startups participating in the 2025 CTO cohort. Cleantech Open (CTO) runs the largest cleantech accelerator program in the world, supporting critical early-stage startups that are addressing global climate, energy, and environmental challenges. Since 2005 CTO has trained over 4,000 entrepreneurs from 2,100+ early-stage clean technology startups through its annual business accelerator. For more information, contact us at: info@deepblue.academy.

2026 Program Timeline:

• February 1st - Application period opens

• April 6th - Application Deadline ($80)

• May 28 - 29th - National Academy in New York City

• June, July & August - Main Curriculum & Virtual Business Clinics

• September (dates TBA) - Regional Finals

• October 20th - 22nd - Global Forum

2026 Program Prize Overview:

• Regional: $5,000 - 10,000 per company for various categories

• National: $50,000 grand prize for the national winner

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD 2026 FLYER

For more information, go to www.cleantechopen.org , or email Cleantech Open at contact@cleantechopen.org with questions.

Find out all the ways you can get involved with Cleantech Open, or recommend a company for the 2026 cohort