A look back at the Yale Innovation Summit’s boldest ideas shaping tomorrow’s world.
 

By Evan Sun, Yale College 2027 

At the 2025 Yale Innovation Summit (Climate Track), the focus shifted to an often-overlooked driver of innovation: infrastructure. Beyond roads, bridges, and factories, infrastructure can serve as a living laboratory for new ventures.

In a lively, data-rich panel moderated by Matthew LeBlanc (CIO, Infrastructure Investments Fund, J.P. Morgan Asset Management), leaders Lindsay Greene (President & CEO, Brooklyn Navy Yard) and Vince Granato (Chief Projects Officer, Port of Portland) showed how infrastructure is being reimagined as a platform for economic growth, climate resilience, and community development.

“Infrastructure is the hidden stage on which innovation plays out,” LeBlanc noted. Greene and Granato demonstrated that rethinking it isn’t just about technical fixes—it’s about designing systems that foster resilience, sustainability, and inclusion. 

Key Takeaways

1. Repurposing Legacy Assets for New Economies

“We’re maintaining the past while preparing for the future.” — Lindsay Greene

• The Brooklyn Navy Yard (300 acres, 550 businesses, 13,000 jobs) has evolved from a historic shipyard into an innovation hub spanning manufacturing, quantum networking, and medical devices.
• Challenge: modernizing WWII-era facilities without disrupting near-full occupancy.
• Next phase: expand beyond 20,000 jobs by creating industrial space for scaling manufacturers—not just startups—so firms can stay and grow in NYC.

2. Infrastructure as a Testbed—with Real Community Input

“You get one shot—design it to adapt.” — Vince Granato

• PDXNext (~$3B) added 1M sq ft to Portland’s main terminal while keeping energy use flat.
• Features: 95 skylights, 150 live trees, floor-to-ceiling glass, and the nation’s largest closed-loop ground-source heat pump.
• Deep community engagement guided design choices (e.g., terrazzo in high-traffic areas, carpet in waiting zones), backed by an accessibility committee and a 20% small-business participation goal.

3. Engineering Climate Resilience

• PDX: A modular mass-timber roof designed to withstand a 9.0 earthquake with base isolators that allow two feet of movement. The 100-ft Douglas fir beams—manufactured in Eugene, OR—require no steel reinforcement, a world first.
• Brooklyn Navy Yard: Multi-layered resilience planning, from “bathtub” waterfront retrofits and stormwater retention pools to elevated substations and rooftop relocation of mechanical systems.

4. Supply Chains and Local Sourcing

• PDX sourced Douglas fir within 300 miles, partnering with regional tribes and mills to track lumber to its final location in the terminal.
• This approach reduced carbon impact while building regional pride and transparency compared to steel or concrete.

5. Building Talent Pipelines

• Brooklyn Navy Yard: Expanding the Brooklyn STEAM Center (350 → 600 students) and launching a Jobs of the Future Training Center for robotics, CNC, HVAC, and offshore wind welding.
• PDX: Over 30,000 workers engaged since 2017. Careful phasing ensured continuity for skilled trades during an eight-year build while keeping the airport operational.

6. Permitting, Capital, and Returns as Bottlenecks

• Innovation often stalls at permitting e.g., NYC fire department halted an ammonia-fuel pilot, forcing relocation to Texas.
• Industrial innovation space frequently requires subsidy. While returns are strong in regional impact, they may not hit “double-digit IRR,” requiring new financing models.
• On the grid: transmission buildout faces NIMBY/BANANA pushback. Storage solutions, federal support, and public–private models are essential to move renewable power at scale.