Seattle mayor announces economic growth actions at Seattle Climate Innovation Hub

Yesterday, at the Seattle Climate Innovation Hub (SCIH), Seattle Mayor Katie B. Wilson announced new actions to position Seattle for its next era of economic growth and to build a more competitive, diverse, and resilient economy, through the signing of an Executive Order (EO).

The four initial actions to be taken through the Mayor’s EO are:

Convene a Resilient Seattle Economy Task Force bringing together business, labor, community and civic leaders to build strong civic connections across sectors, convene industry-specific roundtables, and identify opportunities and strategies to build a resilient Seattle economy.

Develop a Seattle Strategic Initiatives Fund proposal to explore tools that can support transformative projects and economic competitiveness.

Expand opportunities for innovation and local and emerging businesses by directing capital departments to align assets and processes to spur economic development, innovation and diversification.

Improve permitting pathways and City processes to make it easier to open, operate, and grow a business in Seattle.
(source: Office of the Mayor post, September 9, 2026)

The SCIH was a natural choice as the location for delivering this announcement, and the signing of the EO, as evidence in Mayor Wilson’s remarks: “One opportunity I am especially excited about is growing our clean energy and clean technology sector, which is why it’s so appropriate that we are here at the (Seattle) Climate Innovation Hub.”

The SICH launched in January 2025 as the first downtown space dedicated to investing in and designing technology to combat climate change. Developed through a partnership between the City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development (OED), the University of Washington’s CoMotion Labs startup incubator and Mobility Innovation Center, global climate community 9Zero, and VertueLab — a nonprofit funder and accelerator — this collaborative hub serves as a nexus for innovators and early-stage entrepreneurs focused on tackling the climate crisis and expanding the region’s green technology sector while supporting downtown Seattle revitalization.

Over the past two years, the SCIH, has become nationally known as a center for economic resilience and sourcing and supporting clean tech innovation. During that time, CoMotion Labs’ Climate Tech Incubator has incubated 15 startups, and partner 9Zero has built a community of over 800 members and hosted hundreds of events. VertueLab has supported companies with accelerator services and investment, and the OED has provided invaluable support and guidance, not only as the hub got off the ground but as it continues to this day.

To that point, please join us on Tuesday, September 15, from 4-6 p.m. at CoMotion Labs’ Climate Tech Incubator, when the most recent cohort of climate tech startups present during Demo Day.