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

Join us on 7/22 at The Neiux for:

Calling all founders, entrepreneurs, investors, and startup ecosystem partners! Cleantech Open NOLA and DBA are pleased to have selected our 2026 (second) New Orleans-based Shell GameChanger cohort of climate and cleantech startup companies to participate in the National Cleantech Open competition.

On July 22nd at The Nieux, we will host Robbie Vitrano, Board Chair at Mad Agriculture, as our keynote speaker discussing his experience helping to catalyze the regenerative revolution, and supporting farmers leading the transition from conventional agriculture to regenerative practices. Robbie will then lead an expert panel discussion with Madeline Kawanaka, of LA.IO, and Andy Kopplin, of GNOF, to give us some insights about SE Louisiana's potential for global leadership in emerging technologies and models for sustainable development. Marla Miller will close our speaker program with critical guidance and resources for how founders should navigate the legal challenges of the startup world.

In addition, companies from around the country will join our CTO NOLA cohort for a day of regional customer discovery and a chance to practice their ptich as part of the showcase event. Please join us to learn more and to meet all our founders.

MEET THE CTO NOLA 2026 Cohort 02

• Dwayne White; eWay Technology - Creating a new class of clean power harnessing modular kinetic‑energy generators

• Andrew Romaner; Nitrocap; Growing fuel and fertilizer offshore, saving land, and reducing nitrogen pollution to save marine life at the same time

• William McGehee; Novalign - Is the inNOVAtion engine for premium LIGNin products

• Mike Bagot; Refuel Power Co. - Delivering high-efficiency energy storage, cutting-edge electric vehicles, and sustainable power solutions

• Johny Lopez; Solara - Smart solar facades that move with the sun, cutting cooling costs and generating clean energy for more efficient, resilient buildings

• Sid Padmanabha; Sunflower Cogen - Generates both electricity and usable heat from a single solar asset, creating two revenue streams from the same footprint

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

• July 22 - CTO NOLA Customer Discovery Forum

• 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