CleanTech WebLog

The Clean Tech Open launched its California competition this week, in the fabulous Rotunda of the new San Jose City Hall.  San Jose is the hosting city, and  Mayor Chuck Reed was on hand to kick off the event. He threw a challenge to the assembled group of entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders.   “Bring us a way to make it possible for the people of San Jose to install solar on their residences at no cost!—and do it in 60 days!”, he said.   The time constraint elicited laughter, but it underscored the commitment that Mayor Reed and the city have made to clean technology, both for the city’s use and to foster the innovation needed to make the new technologies a viable part of San Jose’s community.   

Mayor Reed reiterated that the city has definitive goals to reduce its electricity consumption by 50%, move towards 100% renewable sources, and add 25,000 jobs in clean technologies.  This is great news for fledgling cleantech companies, and was validated further by the city’s meetings with seven of the CTO “alumni” finalist companies from the last two years, where they discussed opportunities within the city  for their products and services.

This competition is a great way for entrepreneurs with a good idea to get started.  The goal is to foster innovation in clean technology in six categories: renewable energy, smart power, green building, energy efficiency, and air, water and waste management.   And it’s easy to enter—all you need is an idea, $150, and a three page executive summary.   Then the fun starts. (And I mean that—it’s an amazing group of people and lots of fun.)  If you’re selected as a finalist, good things happen to you—you’ll basically get a business makeover through a series of mentoring events, business workshops (how to write a business plan, how to do a VC pitch), and hands-on advice on legal, financial and business issues.  The winners are announced in October, at the “Academy Awards of Cleantech”.  The winners of each category will receive a prize package worth $100,000.  The visibility and networking that ensue from participating in this event open doors and create opportunities that are worth at least as much as the prizes themselves.   To date, alumni from the past two years have raised more than $45 million in financing.  That’s worth thinking about if you have a great idea!

For more info, go to www.cleantech.com.

At last week’s Cleantech Crossroads* event in San Francisco, architects were well-represented among the attendees. It’s clear that architects play a pivotal role in green building. They do something every day that most businesses, institutions and individuals may undertake only once a decade. Because architects design large and complex building projects that have long-lasting effects on energy and resource use, their recommendations and decisions about everything from construction materials and windows to lighting and HVAC systems have very significant, cumulative impacts on the environment. By and large, architects take their environmental responsibility very seriously. Most large domestic firms have at least some staff accredited by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council. And 88% of architects recently surveyed have received some training in sustainable design.

But what’s really interesting to me is that architects are well-positioned to know the needs of a potentially enormous marketplace for clean technology. In the U.S. alone, the construction business contributes almost 5% of our nearly $14 trillion gross domestic product. That’s a $600-700 billion dollar market!

For cleantech startups and for businesses that aim to develop cleantech products, architects can be a source of ideas. What sorts of lighting problems exist and what are some ideal solutions that architects dream about? What sorts of waste water capture and re-use systems are possible but currently not available? How could roofing be adapted to capture photons for solar energy or to heat water?

Beyond the ideation stages, architects can also vet product concepts, assisting new product developers with practical matters such as explaining when, in a typical project timeline, certain product decisions will be made. They can highlight code-compliance issues and describe how to best reach and influence the architects and others who have a say in the decision process. Architects can also be the connectors to commercial construction firms that could assist in testing products in a real-world environment and evaluating the ease or difficulty of incorporating new cleantech products into the construction process itself.

Developers of cleantech products would do well to ally with forward-looking architects to source new product ideas, improve product concepts and even devise ways to get new products to market.

____________________

* The Cleantech Crossroads event was held on 11/15/07 and jointly hosted by the Bay Area Council, the California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth and the Urban Land Institute.

I had the opportunity to volunteer this year with the California Clean Tech Open, a business plan competition in which fledgling cleantech businesses in six categories compete for a total of $600K in awards. The competition’s goal is to provide the winners in each category with the necessary support to get their idea from concept to business reality. The competition culminated last night in a gala event at the Palace of Fine Arts, where the winners were announced and awarded their prizes. (For a list of the winners, and specifics on sponsors and prizes, see http://www.cacleantech.com).

The awards ceremony was the finishing touch on months of education and preparation by the various teams to compete for the big prize, sponsored by AMD, Google, PG&E, Lexus, and others. The sponsors all spoke at the awards event and demonstrated a level of commitment to sustainability and new technologies that surprised many in the audience. It was a great event, and it’s been gratifying to witness the kind of innovation that I’ve seen throughout this competition.

All of these companies have a commitment to change the world. Winner Microvi Biotech, with clean water solutions exemplifies this, as does BuildFast, which supplies a quickly-erected housing kit for disaster relief. Innovations in consumer packaging, transportation, and renewable energy all had a place in the finalist offerings, and it is hugely exciting to imagine the impact that these businesses will have.

One of the greatest challenges for any startup is to find qualified advisors to guide them through the process of writing a solid business plan that tells a compelling story about their potential for marketability and funding. The participants in the California Cleantech Open had a great opportunity to be mentored and educated by industry professionals around the topics of sales, marketing, financial planning, and presentation. It’s an all-volunteer organization, and I am extremely impressed by the quality and quantity of education made available to these contestants.

Winning the prize was great, but available only to a few; the education and exposure received by all is an invaluable springboard to moving their businesses forward.