|
Results of the 4th AustralAsian Cleantech ForumWhen Cleantech industry leaders gather in the one place, you can be sure their is going to be riveting discussion, hefty debate, and some clear directives for the following year. Amongst the seriousness of this global challenge, a place was found for some traditional philosophy, and good humour.
Dusty Wunderlich, Vice President of ARVCO Capital USA, delivers the Keynote speaking notes of Mr. Fred R. Buenrostro Jr., CEO of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) . Fred unfortunately had to cancel his trip to Australia at the last minute due to medical reasons, and requested that Dusty step in and deliver his remarks.
Download Presentations The 4th Australian Cleantech Forum™, held on March 11-12 got off to a great start, as the Formula 1 Pit Crews were preparing for the big race around Albert park Melbourne, only blocks away political, technical and industry leaders gathered to connect, network and plan a course of action for the years ahead. Councillor Gary Singer, Deputy Lord Mayor welcomed the delegates and highlighted his concerns about the global climate change challenge. He highlighted the City of Melbourne continued commitment to sustainability, and their support of the Cleantech Forum as a means to provided needed support for Cleantech companies and industry development. He threw out the challenge for us to "Make the most of this brave new world."
The Hon. John Brumby, Premier of Victoria continued with the same theme. His commitments included sending a State Sponsored delegation to the 2nd India Cleantech Forum™ which will be held on 10-11 of July 2008 in New Delhi India and supporting the Cleantech Industry in its role of helping the state government with its key goals of productivity, liveability and sustainability.
The premier highlighted the collaborative efforts of the EPA, and the sustainability covenant system used to assist with Industry Development. Melbourne Zero Waste policy move toward a 65% target, and continued efforts to create new technology and new jobs within the industry.
"Strive for new partnership's, new opportunities and new innovations."
Dusty Wunderlich from ARVCO Capital USA, held the audience attention as he delivered the speaking notes of Mr. Fred R. Buenrostro Jr., CEO of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) . Fred unfortunately had to cancel his trip to Australia at the last minute due to medical reasons, and requested that Dusty step in and deliver his remarks.
It was clear that CalPERS sees Cleantech as a major opportunity with its commitment to invest over $10b over the next two years into the Renewable Energy sector alone. Environmental Investing is fast becoming a core strategy for Institutional Investors seeking transformational investments, converting challenge into opportunity.
Chris Greenwood of New Energy Finance UK, delivered an excellent overview of the Cleantech Energy Sector, citing IRR for VC/PE 54.9%, NEX Index growth of 30%, and forecasts $450b investment into new energy technologies for the year 2012. Brian Price from FEX-SIM called the audience to action, to simply investment process, and make the necessary judgement calls without delay to help speed along the industry development. Brian delivered some "inconvenient truths" of his own, raised a few eyebrows and had the audience both laughing and crying all at once.
Session 2 covered the growth of cleantech in the Asia Pacific and the India Cleantech Opportunity. The panel reviewed the Indian government perspective - renewable energy investment trends and opportunities, market opportunities for B2B and technology transfer, clean Energy export market opportunities, how Australian companies can access the Indian Cleantech market and what are the hot Indian Cleantech investment sectors.
Institutional Investor Interest in Cleantech is growing at a rapid pace. In Session 3, a specialised Institutional Investor panel covered topics including how institutional investors are allocating capital to the Cleantech space, appropriate allocation's to Cleantech PE/VC, how Australian superfunds co-invest with US pension funds, the fiduciary responsibilities for institutional investors to address climate risk, requirements for investment consultants and fund managers to build expertise in cleantech.
Following on from the Institutional Investor Panel. The final Panel of Day 1 discussed the Cleantech Revolution and what is required to accelerate investment in and the deployment of Cleantech.
Audience participation was high, covering many topics including the areas of innovation and technology are Australia globally in competitive in, how to navigate the rapidly changing legal and regulatory environment, how leading corporations drive Cleantech investment and deployment, what policy settings are required to improve investor certainty, is it realistic to think that we can substantially change our energy mix away from fossil fuels and who are the key actors in the Cleantech Revolution?
Day two began with a full house with record numbers in attendance. There was standing room only as the first panel session of the day covered all aspects of cleantech funds and who is investing in what and why.
The Cleantech Forum Investment Showcase™ provides a platform for pre-screened companies seeking investment to present their investment rationale and describe the market conditions across a range of Cleantech sub sectors. Selected by the AustralAsian Cleantech Advisory Panel some of Australia’s most innovative companies covered a range of technologies and investment opportunities.
Technologies included cleaner coal technology, renewable oil, renewable power at less than $1 /watt, thermoelectrics: combining both solar electricity and hot water, wave and tidal current baseload power, distributed generation: access to power for the worlds poor, and sustainable water: increasing profit from agricultural property.
Jamie Taylor kicked off the second part of the investment showcase after lunch, during which we a number of investment opportunities were presented including Energy Efficiency in industrial food processing and air purification, new materials, biodegradable plastic and resins, zero emission base-load power and desalination using wave power, efficiency in domestic food chain production using high yeild feedstocks, green diesel transportation, cleaner coal particulate reduction with retrofits for the fossil fuel energy and clean air for the cement industries, and finally clean water: water treatment and recycling.
Mark Nydam and David Fann
Jeff Castellas, Dusty Wunderlich, Brendan Bateman and David Fann
The forum ended much the way it started, serious issues with a splash of humour and good will. Peter moderated an open discussion between panelists and delegates to discuss what key developments will happen over the next 12 months, what are the revolutionary technologies coming onto the radar and what will the Cleantech industry future look like? Thank you to everyone, panelists, speakers, organisers and delegates. All of you contributed to make the 4th AustralAsian Cleantech Forum a tremendous success with many positive outcomes for everyone.The 4th AustralAsian Cleantech Forum™ focussed on innovative finance and investment for the surging Cleantech industry offering solid financial returns to investors and critical technological solutions for sustainable development. The 4th AustralAsian Cleantech Forum™ also featured the popular Cleantech Investment Showcase with 14 pre-screened investment ready public and private Australian Cleantech companies raising capital and building global business partnerships, to accelerate the deployment of Cleantech products, particularly into the Indian market. These companies were selected by the AustralAsian Cleantech Forum Advisory Panel of investment experts and include the following:
 The Venue: The Langham Hotel Melbourne |
![PCG](http://www.cleantechforum.com/files/logos/740/PCG-AM-Logo_150.jpg"){kind=logo}
