Where Is Clean Tech Headed?
Where Is ‘Clean Tech’ Headed?
Where is clean tech headed? What, exactly, does it mean to you? If you’d like to find out, stop by Midwest Clean Tech 2011 (September 14, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, www.midwestcleantech2011 ).
Now in its fourth year, the event is worthy of attention, in part, because one of its goals is to demonstrate that the Midwest is a growing source of innovation in technology-based businesses and a resource for global markets in that sector. In short, the region seems to be putting up long-held investment dollars for technology entrepreneurs. Lack of such investment has been a key reason that the heartland’s long-available and substantial brainpower too often flees to the coasts.
The mission of the relatively new Global Midwest Alliance (GMA), a co-founder of Midwest Clean Tech is, in fact, to connect Midwestern entrepreneurs with global markets to open new sales and distribution channels ( www.globalmidwestalliance.org ). Needless to say, as sales and marketing consultants, we’re watching those developments closely. The GMA is an innovation in itself, developed through the efforts of the privately funded Economic Development Council of Chicago.
What are “clean tech” companies, anyway, and what’s the attraction?
“Clean tech,” in this case, refers to businesses that create technology-driven products and services designed to “do well by doing good”-that is, turn a profit without damaging the environment and perhaps even enhancing it.
As you might suspect, however, successful clean-tech companies do well not necessarily because they do good. Like other well-run businesses, they do well by providing profitable products and services that perform at least on par with previous versions and often better-or by creating new-to-the-world products.
A good example is Eco Thermics, a Peoria, Illinois, company that has developed a natural refrigerant compressor as a component for high-efficiency and environmentally sustainable heat pumps ( www.ecothermics.com ). Last year the company was recognized as a finalist in the Brinks Innovation Competition, which is a centerpiece of the Clean Tech event. (Eco Thermics CEO Merle Rocke was once COO for one of our clients in sales process development.)
If you’ve seen industry headlines in recent weeks , you might get the impression that things are a little messy in the world of clean tech. Seemingly at odds with themselves, the heads beg the question of where clean tech is headed:
- “Cleantech’s Future Still Bright Despite Troubling Q2 Numbers”
- “Cleantech Investment Drops 44%, but Big Deals Suggest Future Growth”
The troubling 44 percent “drop” figure comes from an Ernst & Young report comparing national 2011 second-quarter numbers ($1.09 billion) to those from the same period in 2010 ($1.95 billion), a record year for U.S. clean-tech investment. But the free fall implied by the headlines is misleading and probably won’t end in a hard landing. Say observers: Several big deals closed more or less at the same time last year, skewing the figures.
Well, we’re not going to try predict the future of anything here. You can decide for yourself if you check out Midwest Clean Tech 2011. A plus is that you might be witnessing the rise of yet another “third coast” in America-this one in the Midwest for clean-tech companies and their entrepreneurial owners and investors.
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