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Meet the Next Energy Startups
The Shell Alumni Network invited the American Energy Society to curate four panels that feature pioneering energy and climate startups for its ENERGY2026 virtual conference.
We approached some of the country’s leading universities for technology commercialization (see list below) with a simple question: Which startups are at the top of the funnel at your university? Each university submitted its strongest candidates. An independent panel of Shell experts and AES moderators then reviewed thousands of startups and selected the most promising companies in each subsector. |
For a limited time, everyone has complimentary access to the startup showcase sessions hosted by American Energy Society.
Join AES as a Member for unrestricted access to Energy2026 hosted by the Shell Alumni Network.
Be sure to check back here as we update the schedule.
Join AES as a Member for unrestricted access to Energy2026 hosted by the Shell Alumni Network.
Be sure to check back here as we update the schedule.
Agenda
Session 1: A Nordic Portfolio
8am PST (US) / 5pm CET (EU)
The Nordic region might be the most prolific energy innovation ecosystem in the world. To appreciate why, this panel spotlights four exceptional startups with four disparate technologies from four different countries.
Moderator: Matt Foste, America's Director, Strategy & Growth, Ramboll
The Startups:
8am PST (US) / 5pm CET (EU)
The Nordic region might be the most prolific energy innovation ecosystem in the world. To appreciate why, this panel spotlights four exceptional startups with four disparate technologies from four different countries.
Moderator: Matt Foste, America's Director, Strategy & Growth, Ramboll
The Startups:
Sweden Lead-cooled small modular nuclear reactors |
Finland High-temperature thermal energy storage |
Norway Industrial-scale production of synthetic fuels |
Denmark Carbon mineralization for direct air capture |
Did you know? The Nordic region has less than 0.4% of the global population, yet generates more than 10% of the world’s top-tier energy and climate startups.
Session 2: Storage, Scaled
9am PST (US) / 6pm CET (EU)
Battery storage is booming. This panel brings together startups from across the battery storage value chain to discuss scaling to meet surging demand. The question hanging over the next wave of BESS: what comes next? Customers, manufacturers, or investors?
Moderator: Kevin Beaty, Principal, YUNEV LLC
The Startups:
9am PST (US) / 6pm CET (EU)
Battery storage is booming. This panel brings together startups from across the battery storage value chain to discuss scaling to meet surging demand. The question hanging over the next wave of BESS: what comes next? Customers, manufacturers, or investors?
Moderator: Kevin Beaty, Principal, YUNEV LLC
The Startups:
UT, Austin LFP and LMFP cathode materials |
MIT Advanced modular fuel cell systems |
Finland Smart battery systems for C&I BESS |
Did you know? Battery storage is the fastest-growing power technology in the world. Global deployments increased 40% last year, and capacity is 11 times higher than it was in 2021
Session 3: Energy Systems and Management
10am PST (US) / 7pm CET (EU)
Data centers are driving the biggest demand buildout in decades, and most of the conversation is about building more. But building more of what? This panel looks at startups solving how that demand gets cooled and watered without running the grid dry.
Moderator: Matt Foste, America's Director, Strategy & Growth, Ramboll
The Startups:
10am PST (US) / 7pm CET (EU)
Data centers are driving the biggest demand buildout in decades, and most of the conversation is about building more. But building more of what? This panel looks at startups solving how that demand gets cooled and watered without running the grid dry.
Moderator: Matt Foste, America's Director, Strategy & Growth, Ramboll
The Startups:
UC, Berkeley Solid-state microchip cooling |
Georgia Tech Modular industrial water reuse |
Georgia Tech Chip-scale thermal cooling |
Did you know? AI computing has transformed the utility footprint: a single AI query consumes about 50 milliliters of water for data center cooling—nearly 80 times more than a traditional web search.
Session 4: Capturing Carbon
11am PST (US) / 8pm CET (EU)
To slow down changes to the climate, carbon must now be pulled out of and permanently isolated from the biosphere, whether through Direct Air Capture (DAC), Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS), or some other means. This panel examines the pioneering startups building the gigaton-scale infrastructure required to remove legacy carbon from the atmospheric system entirely.
Moderator: Matt Foste, America's Director, Strategy & Growth, Ramboll
The Startups:
11am PST (US) / 8pm CET (EU)
To slow down changes to the climate, carbon must now be pulled out of and permanently isolated from the biosphere, whether through Direct Air Capture (DAC), Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS), or some other means. This panel examines the pioneering startups building the gigaton-scale infrastructure required to remove legacy carbon from the atmospheric system entirely.
Moderator: Matt Foste, America's Director, Strategy & Growth, Ramboll
The Startups:
MIT Carbon capture for boilers, kilns, and furnaces |
CalTech Emission control for industrial flue gases |
Stanford Utilizing CO2 to enhance fertilizer |
Did you know? Lowering global temperatures by just one-tenth of a degree Fahrenheit requires removing roughly 220 billion tons of CO₂ from our atmosphere and locking it away—or about 27 tons of captured carbon for every person on Earth.
Gratitude
American Energy Society would like to thank Tom Moroney (Floris Energy), Paul Nelson (SEP), and especially Dagmar Mekking (Shell SAN). This program would not have been possible without your vision and support. We would also like to thank all the nominators and, most especially, our panel moderators for dedicating their time and expertise to this very special opportunity. We are truly grateful, more than you know.
American Energy Society would like to thank Tom Moroney (Floris Energy), Paul Nelson (SEP), and especially Dagmar Mekking (Shell SAN). This program would not have been possible without your vision and support. We would also like to thank all the nominators and, most especially, our panel moderators for dedicating their time and expertise to this very special opportunity. We are truly grateful, more than you know.
Featured startups come from leading ecosystems like
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Boise State
Boston University BYU Caltech Carnegie Mellon CO School of Mines Columbia Cornell |
Dartmouth
Duke Georgetown Georgia Tech Harvard LSU Michigan State MIT |
NCSU
Oklahoma State Penn State Rice Stanford TAMU TTU Tulane |
U-Alaska, Fairbanks
UC Berkeley UC Davis UCSB UCSC UCSD UNCC UNC |
University of Houston
University of OK University of Maryland University of Tulsa USC USF UT-Austin WVU |
...plus a special showcase for the Nordic energy ecosystem.
