First Cleantech Innovations New England Awards Winners Announced
Over the past several months student teams from around the country have been competing for a $200,000 grand prize at the MIT Clean Energy Prize. Fifteen semi-finalists were selected in March. Over the weekend those fifteen, split amongst three energy sub-categories, presented their final plans and category winners were selected. Yesterday, the three category finalists were...
The Entrepreneur: A Masterpiece of Dexterity, Grace and Risk
Bilal Zuberi led the 2012 University Research & Entrepreneurship Symposium (URES, pronounced by those in the know as U-Rez) breakout session titled “Resourceful Entrepreneurs.” An innocent title, it called up images of a boy scout with a good Swiss army knife and a set of dry matches, but what followed seemed more like instructions on...
NECEC Co-Founder Now DOE Leader
Dr. David Danielson, New England Clean Energy Council Co-Founder and General Catalyst Alum, has been named Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at DOE. Accelerating cleantech has spanned his career in various roles – beginning in 2009, Dave served as a Program Director at ARPA-E . His close ties to New England also include...
The Push for Clean Energy
Inspired in part by the continuing Solyndra debate and recent comments by the New York Times on the automotive industry’s stance on electric vehicles, a recent Boston Globe Editorial highlights the results of political uncertainty on federal funding on a national and local level. NECEC’s President Peter Rothstein weighed in on the Globe piece, citing those costs. Continuing,...
The Complicated Energy Innovation Challenge
The Energy industry abounds with unique and often conflicting interests. Incumbent players have little incentive to change the status quo because of enormous capital investments in infrastructure, production capacity, and supply chains. Fortunately, scientists and entrepreneurs continue to face these challenges head on, charging ahead to lead a revolution that will be won in incremental...
What Is the Appropriate Role for Government in Cleantech Innovation?
(This post originally appeared at Greentech Media.) It’s not a popular thing to argue right now, but yes, there certainly is a vital role for government in support of cleantech innovation. Let me start by acknowledging that I absolutely understand and quite often agree with the sentiment that government shouldn’t be in the business of...
Is cheap, clean AND secure energy possible?
(This post originally appeared at The Energy Collective.) David Frum, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush and current blogger for Newsweek/The Daily Beast, is among the more thoughtful conservative commentators. (Full disclosure – I had the pleasure and privilege of writing for his now defunct blog, FrumForum.com.) Nevertheless, Frum is sadly mistaken in his recent piece...
Energy Leaders Breakfast Club 1.3 – Corporate Sustainability and the “Clean Web”
This week, the Energy Leaders Breakfast Club talks IT, the “Clean Web” and Corporate Sustainability. Today’s conversation is the third and final piece from the December Breakfast Club meeting. NECEC and Mass High Tech previously released the first and second transcripts, and look forward to continuing the conversation with January’s session. The Energy Leaders Breakfast...
Large Corporates and Family Offices: A Need to Connect
(This post originally appeared at GreentechMedia.) One thing many cleantech VCs are good at is connecting with large corporations’ strategy and venture groups. They regularly chat to compare notes, discuss market trends, share investment perspectives, identify areas of needed investment, opportunities to work with the VCs’ portfolio companies, etc. It’s a win-win. I was surprised...
A Look at Cleantech VC in New England
Much is written about cleantech venture capital globally and nationally, but much less is out there about investments at the state and regional levels. Courtesy of The Cleantech Group, I've charted cleantech venture investments in New England from 2007 through Q3 2011.
“How Do I Get a Job in Cleantech Venture Capital?”
Around this time of year, the amount of inbound requests for coffees and "picking your brain" chats is always pretty overwhelming, as business school students and others start thinking about how they would love to be a cleantech venture capital investor. Unfortunately, much of what I have to give is simply tough love.
MassCEC Highlighted by New Brookings Paper
A new paper from The Brookings Institution highlights state clean energy funds and argues that they must invest in innovative technologies, and not just provide project finance.