Special Accelerator Application Period
Deadline: NOVEMBER 30, 2025
APPLICATION DEADLINE: NOVEMBER 30, 2025
What is an Accelerator?
An accelerator is a short-term program that helps businesses and/or projects rapidly scale and grow by providing mentorship, consulting from subject matter/technical experts, and access to partner and funding networks.
The NextCycle Michigan Accelerator is a free six-month program that provides coaching and mentoring in business and operational planning, access to technical and circular economy expertise, connections to supply chain partners, identification of funding pathways, development of creative strategies, and much more. The support is customized to each project to advance it toward implementation, where it can fill in gaps and strengthen Michigan’s circular economy.
The cohort kicks off with an in-person two-day academy, followed by several months of virtual coaching and support, and finally culminates in a showcase where teams pitch their projects and compete for awards.
NextCycle Michigan is open to public, private, and nonprofit organizations that have projects focused on material reuse, repair, recycling, organic material recovery, or recycled/recovered material content in new products. Proposed projects must be located in, and/or demonstrate potential for directly addressing materials generated in the state of Michigan.
Seeking Projects in Two Categories
Tree trimming and storm damage produce large amounts of wood waste. Additionally, wind energy requires equipment repairs and replacement, creating decommissioned parts like wind turbine blades.
NextCycle Michigan and DTE Energy are teaming up to advance practical, scalable solutions for the reuse, recycling, and upcycling of wood chips and wind turbine blades. This year, the DTE Energy Innovation Challenge is offering two $9,000 prizes to teams that develop new ways to recycle, upcycle, or reuse wood chips or wind turbine blades. The pitches will be judged at the cohort’s showcase event based on the opportunity to scale the solution across Michigan while maintaining a low environmental footprint.
WIND TURBINE BLADES
WOOD CHIPS
Download information packet
The information packet details eligibility, project types, application requirements, and additional resources. Please review before you begin the online application process. Applications must be submitted through the online application portal.
Cohort Timeline
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APPLICATION DEADLINE
NOV 30, 2025
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TEAM SELECTION
DEC 2025
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TEAM ONBORDING
JAN 2026
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IN-PERSON ACADEMY
JAN 2026
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VIRTUAL COACHING & PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
JAN – JUN 2026
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IN-PERSON SHOWCASE
JUN 2026
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TEAM OFFBOARDING
JUN/JUL 2026
Virtual Office Hours
Need additional assistance? Virtual office hours are available to provide one-on-one application support. Click on the NextCycle facilitator’s image below to schedule a 30-minute virtual meeting.
START YOUR APPLICATION HERE!
This is an online application process. When you click the button below, you will be sent to another website to complete the application. You can save your application and come back to complete it at a later date. Just be sure to submit by the deadline - NOV 30, 2025, 11:59 PM ET!
Still have questions? Email us at: NextCycleMI@recycle.com