MIT Energy & Climate Ventures is a project- and lecture-based course in which teams create a new business in the energy sector. The goal of Energy Ventures is to educate entrepreneurs through hands-on practical experience.

Teams of engineering, policy, and business students are paired with technologies from MIT and surrounding labs to determine the best path for commercialization. These teams then spend the fall semester building their business plans.

This advanced entrepreneurship course goes beyond general entrepreneurial concepts to address special challenges faced in the clean energy and related industries.

The class gathers cross-disciplinary skills (technology, business, policy, law, etc.) to form teams around new technologies emerging out of several of MIT’s labs. Over the course of the semester, students will work with their team to build out the venture’s business and market-launch efforts.

The class has spun out over 60 ventures over the last ten years, with many achieving significant market traction.

Sectors include:
-energy & power
-transportation & mobility
-agriculture & food
-carbon sequestration & resources/environmental
-advanced materials & chemicals and
-enabling technologies

This course is one of the most popular in the nation for student-driven energy entrepreneurship, and it carries with it the spirit of the MIT Innovation Initiative and leverages the resources of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship. Energy Ventures teams have performed exceptionally well in business plan competitions after the class has completed (including the MIT Clean Energy Prize, the MIT $100K Business Plan Competition, and the energy track of the Rice Business Plan Competition. OptiBit (now Ayar Labs), founded through the course in 2014-2015, won the 2015 MIT Clean Energy Prize.

The class is currently being taught at MIT and UT Austin, with more schools planning to start offering it soon.