NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A panel of expert judges declared Gencores, Inc., the winner of Lever's Berkshire Sustainability Challenge on Dec. 3, for its ultra-high-performance foam cores, which can be manufactured at scale and help companies shed 900lb of steel per vehicle, increasing efficiency by 40 percent. 

 

"We're super excited," said Gencores Founder and CEO Jules Thiery. "Everyone who gave a pitch at the Challenge was really strong. We're honored to be the winners and grateful to Lever and MassCEC for the funding and coaching."

 

Supported by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), the Berkshire Sustainability Challenge also offered a $3,500 scholarship to each finalist. Through Lever's Challenge program, these high-potential, clean energy startups worked to refine their business plans and goals, hearing from business leaders and experts as they developed their final pitches for the Dec. 3 event.

 

Gencores was awarded a $20,000 Lever Innovation Grant to support the development of this new innovation.

 

"All of our finalists pitched innovative ideas that can help Massachusetts achieve its goal of net zero emissions by 2050, and help the wider world on a path to greater sustainability," said Lever Executive Director Jeffrey Thomas. "I'm looking forward to seeing the impact these companies and their founders have in the future.

 

Berkshire Sustainability Challenge Finalists

 

Arc Industries

ARC Industries designs and manufactures rooftop-mounted vertical axis wind turbines.  It is Arc Industries' mission to make renewable energy affordable and accessible to everyone. 

 

SolaBlock

SolaBlock is a Vertical Solar Company that works with our customers to design renewable energy solutions using its Solar Masonry Unit (SMU).

 

Emerald Energy

Emerald Energy is equipping the next generation of climate tech workers using online education. Emerald is currently focused on heat pump and electric vehicle technicians, and will expand into the wind and solar sector as the company scales.

 

Sol Clarity

SolClarity provides an environmentally conscious cleaning method for solar collectors through the electrodynamic screens (EDS) as overlays for solar panels that use electric fields to automatically remove dust and restore the energy yield/output power of solar panels without the need to wash the panels with water.

 

r-Stream

r-Steam's is developing a compact system that can sort high volumes of recyclables from trash using machine vision and learning.