ORIGINAL POST, Barry Chong, marsdd.com, September 22, 2021

MaRS and RBC launch the Women in Cleantech Accelerator, a 12-month program that will help these companies grow into global players.

Let’s start with the facts. We know that female-run companies are more successful than those run by men; we also know that climate-change innovation will be a staple of the Canadian economy going forward. Yet women make up only 10 percent of Canada’s cleantech founders; and according to ECO Canada, the country lags far behind in global cleantech market share. Given that civilization has a finite window to avoid environmental disaster, there’s no better time than now to flip the facts.

Today, MaRS and RBC announced the inaugural Women in Cleantech Accelerator cohort, 10 tech leaders embarking on a 12-month journey to develop the next generation of climate-change solutions.

“This cohort includes some of the most exciting cleantech companies from across the country, including innovative new bio-based materials, digital twins for assessing environmental risks, technology to give electric vehicle batteries new life, and more” said Jane Kearns, VP, Growth Services, MaRS. “We’re excited to put the full power of MaRS behind this group of entrepreneurs to help them grow their companies into global players that are solving some of the world’s most intractable environmental problems.”

The Women in Cleantech Accelerator members come from across Canada, with half of them representing BIPOC communities. Through the program, they will gain access to advisory support, mentorship and marketing opportunities, as well networks of potential investors and customers.

Meet the 10 female entrepreneurs set to revolutionize Canada’s cleantech scene.

Shirook Ali measures the environment with precision

What her company does: As founder and CEO of Mississauga’s Ecosystem Informatics, Shirook Ali has developed technology to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, air quality and meteorological data for industries and jurisdictions with strong environmental targets.

Why it’s important: You can’t mitigate GHGs if you can’t measure them. The problem is that current solutions are generally expensive, immobile and inaccurate. Ali’s devices are cloud-based and A.I.-powered, which allows her team to monitor the environment in any setting with far greater accuracy and coverage.

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