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SC NEXUS is building South Carolina into a hub for advanced energy innovation, one that creates lasting economic value for the state and strengthens the resilience of the grid. New energy companies, rooted in South Carolina, are what make that real. eiX is the program that creates them.
The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Exchange (eiX) pairs teams of entrepreneurs with advanced energy technology from universities and federal laboratories, and the support needed to determine whether and how it can become a business. The technologies entering the program are selected for their commercial potential, so participants are not starting from scratch. They are starting with a technology that has been chosen as a credible foundation to build from. Teams that validate a path to market have the opportunity to license the underlying IP and incorporate.
Participants work with the combined resources of SC NEXUS, SCRA, NextGen, and FedTech throughout the process.
Approximate 2026 Program Dates
- July 2026: Interviews and entrepreneur selection
- Week of July 27, Virtual: Cohort Onboarding & Networking
- Week of August 3, Single-Day In-Person (Greenville, SC) Bootcamp: At the Bootcamp, you will get to know the entire cohort and establish a foundation with your new team. You will also meet the inventors of your technology, mentors, and coaches. It will be a full day you don’t want to miss.
- August 10 - September 28, Phase I: Startup teams develop an understanding of their technology, its potential use cases, and do intensive customer discovery to evaluate commercial potential. The Phase culminates in an internal midpoint pitch event where teams showcase their findings and outline their initial business concept.
- October 5 - November 16, Phase II: Startup teams fully develop their business plans with modules on licensing, legal strategy, fundraising, manufacturing, and go-to-market.
- First Week of December 2026, In-Person (Greenville, SC) Showcase: The program will culminate with a final pitch contest where startups will showcase their businesses for the chance to win prize funding.
- Free to participate.
- No equity taken.
- Successful teams compete for a $50,000 prize pool at the end of the program.
- Hybrid program with 2-3 required in-person convenings in Greenville, South Carolina. Optional in-person office hours are available throughout.
What participants get
Institutional Network Access
Gain direct access to FedTech's network of federal agencies, research institutions, and government-backed innovation programmes: including partners across DHS, NASA, and the Department of Energy. Participants are connected to the decision-makers, procurement leads, and mission owners who can take your technology from promising to deployed
Testbed Access
Graduating teams can apply to validate their technology at SC NEXUS testbeds, where it can be operated under real grid conditions before commercial deployment.
Six Months of Post-Program Support
Monthly office hours, fundraising and regulatory workshops, and investor and customer introductions continue for six months after graduation, along with priority consideration for the follow-on accelerator program.
Partners
