When Collaboration Comes to Life: Inside the Seattle Climate Innovation Hub
Climate change remains a persistent and growing threat to community wellbeing and economic prosperity in Washington State. In the midst of unprecedented disruption to national policy and threats to the climate movement, it's clearer than ever that deep collaboration and marshaling our shared resources is how we can best support and accelerate climate startups in the Pacific Northwest.
The Pacific Northwest is uniquely positioned to evolve into a global hub for climate tech innovation, given its geographic location, climate policies, and a strong tech sector deeply embedded into the region’s ecosystem. Progressive climate legislation like the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) and widespread support of renewable energy has established Washington as an ideal place for climate tech startups to flourish.
The research VertueLab conducted in 2024 has noted as much, identifying barriers entrepreneurs in the region repeatedly face on their journey to scaling their technologies. One such barrier that stood out was the notable shortage of physical spaces dedicated to fostering collaboration and interaction among entrepreneurs, investors, and support organizations, resulting in fragmented networking, knowledge-sharing, and visibility for climate innovations and other entrepreneurial activity. [1]
The Seattle Climate Innovation Hub (SCIH) came about to address this challenge directly. The first downtown space dedicated to supporting and incubating climate tech innovation, it is a collaboration between the City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development, University of Washington’s CoMotion, 9Zero, and VertueLab. The SCIH serves as a space for entrepreneurs tackling the climate crisis while supporting the ongoing revitalization of downtown Seattle. “Our new Seattle Climate Innovation Hub is a signal and call to businesses and entrepreneurs around the world that if you’re in the business of combating climate change and developing clean energy technologies, we want you here in Seattle,” says Mayor Bruce Harrell in a statement.
The scale and impact required for the SCIH’s success can’t happen overnight – or in isolation. Leveraging the power of collaboration and building on the expertise of each of the partner organizations is critical to providing infrastructure and resources to early-stage climate startups, empowering them to move from concept to commercialization with speed and support. "VertueLab's role as a nonprofit uniquely enables us to bridge public and private interests, and to catalyze equitable economic opportunity as both a venture capital funder and accelerator of climate startups,” says Aina Abiodun, President and Executive Director of VertueLab. “With this hub, we join the ranks of many who have built powerful, successful hubs for their technology missions, attracting talent, building prototyping and manufacturing facilities in their regions and shipping the products they develop around the world.” In 2025 alone, the SCIH has already supported over 170 business members, hosted over 70 events with over 680 attendees, and is actively building an incubator program. “CoMotion Labs companies have achieved over $3.5B funding in the last five years. With the CoMotion Climate Tech Incubator, we are applying a proven model to accelerate the innovation journey, providing tools, connections, and acumen to transform ideas into economic and societal impact,” says Ashlee Esteban, Director of CoMotion Labs.
Beyond a physical location for innovators to converge, the SCIH is a testament to what we can achieve when we lean into the resources of our ecosystem and join forces to accelerate progress. As we face the challenges ahead, it is clear that strategic partnerships are what catalyze the transformative change needed to tackle the climate crisis head-on. The SCIH is just the first step in realizing a long-overdue opportunity to shape climate innovation, cleantech manufacturing, and supercharge Washington state’s green economy.
