Richard Youngman: Why Copenhagen Does Not Matter For Cleantech Startups
We visited Lahti Cleantech Venture Day a few weeks ago and were able to talk to Richard Youngman of Cleantech Group. Richard is based in Cleantech Group’s office in London and is responsible for the company’s global membership offering – its industry-leading data, research, and conferences – as well as driving the growth of the group’s activities in Europe, India and the Middle East.
In the first video we discussed what will happen in 2010 in cleantech and whether Youngman believes the cleantech market in India is finally catching fire.
We also talked in length why he believes Copenhagen does not matter. As we all know, the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) is going on in Copenhagen, Denmark right now. Businesses have already a long time argued for a clear road map what kinds of policies governments will implement, what will be taxed, what will be supported and so on. The missing clarity will inhibit or at least defer all the investment decision to the new technology, which in turn influences the number and the amount of investments, trade sales and even IPOs in the sector, when nobody knows what horse to bet on. Youngman argued it's not quite as what is seems. See the videos below for more.
Richard Youngman Of Cleantech Group On Where The Innovation Is Coming From
We visited Lahti Cleantech Venture Day a few weeks ago and were able to talk to Richard Youngman of Cleantech Group. Richard is based in Cleantech Group's office in London and is responsible for the company's global membership offering - its industry-leading data, research, and conferences - as well as driving the growth of the group's activities in Europe, India and the Middle East.
We discussed Cleantech Group's offering and what they do in particular, how does the clean tech space currently look like and where the innovation is coming from.
In the second video Youngman told us how he sees the Nordic space and what are the hot areas to follow. Similarly he addressed whether he sees clean tech continuing to attract the most venture capital going forward, just as it did in Q3 this year.
Swedish Smart Grid Hexaformer Closed 2nd Round
For a cleantech view in 2009/10, economic stimulus packages have moved to centre stage. USD 396 bln in stimulus funding is going to green investments announced by G20 countries, of this about 50 % of amount will be invested in 2009, according to Cleantech Group (an article). Interestingly, many areas formerly called "infrastructure" have been now rebranded as "green" (like for instance electric transmission lines, smart grid and metering, power system automation)!
Swedish electric transformer company Hexaformer is an excellent case example for a company benefit from the ongoing "green" or electric infrastructure opportunities (when the old technology or ageing infrastructure in many countries, especially in the US, require updating). The company, founded in 2004, closed second round of EUR 3.3 million last week backed by Swedish cleantech investor Sustainable Technologies Fund and the first round investor, Innovations Kapital (which invested EUR 3,3 in May 2007) (a press release).
Ecowave: New Turbine Technology For Wave Power
Ecowave is (one of three Finnish) wave seed stage company owned by family Penttila. Compared to other modern wave power solutions Ecowave has chosen a different approach with a turbine technology using the circular motion of water occurring in a wave drives on any direction. The rotation speed based testing is the same class as in the big wind turbines with an easy anchored installation near or far seaside. The technology has a patent pending backed by an evidence at University of Technology Helsinki. Ecowave has now the first round ongoing for further R&D, next in summer 2009 on energy generation potential and cost protections.
Despite the capital intensity and very early stage nature of business, Wave power received a huge in 2008 according to Cleantech Group . The sector has been dominated more corporate’s while UK's, Ireland's and French Atlantic coastline boasts some of the most powerful wave streams globally. The big challenge is to make a device that will survive and produce power at reasonably cost. Carbon Trust estimates that wave energy costs 25 pence per kWh compared to wind 12 pence per kWh and coal/gas five pence per kWh. Technically, grid connection and energy transport are the first barriers to overcome as wave power plants are usually located a far from high population density.
