Cashing in on green and clean
China might be way out ahead on green tech development,"It has become almost a cliché to say that optical fibers are the cornerstone
DSTT of the modern information age," said Badding. "These long, thin fibers, which are three times as thick as a human hair, can transmit more than a terabyte -- the equivalent of 250 DVDs -- of information per second. Still, there always are ways to improve on existing technology." but a lot more people are now starting to jump into the race.
And the Newburyport Clean Tech Center, a non-profit group created to develop and foster green tech businesses, plans to push 20 new ventures as far out front as soon as possible.
In February, the center invited a few bankers, some heads of state and federal agencies and a"You could edge your way through but you felt
Led strip light distinctively nervous doing so." couple of local officials to meet their first client, Solais, a Connecticut-based manufacturer of LED lights. Clean Tech Center president Bob O’Brien, a 20-year veteran of Fidelity Investments, says it was a small event meant to showcase the potential of the company, and to possibly open some doors for Solais to find some funding.
“We’re building relationships with people,” says O’Brien, who figures that once the center opens a funding door for one company, it will remain ajar for the center’s clients to come.
Ferreting out funds to launch new products or grow existing green-tech companies is just one of the many services the Clean Tech Center offers.
“There are loads of great ideas out there in the early stages,In the other open position, the
led lights dock holds the iPhone in a perfect position for resting on a tabletop for most any use including FaceTime.” says O’Brien. “But they need to be adequately researched.”
A business for the times
The Clean Tech Center, which describes itself as a business incubator, helps start-up companies with business plans, marketing strategies, legal assistance, and other types of technical and corporate help.
“We want to take great ideas and make successful businesses out of them,” says O’Brien, who runs the center with Art Currier, Mark Friery, Steve DeGuglielmo and David McDougall, all experienced business leaders who bring different areas of expertise to the center.
And the Clean Teach Center is hardly alone. At the moment, everyone loves green-tech startups. In January, three energy industry giants, General Electric, NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips announced they were tossing down $300 million to launch Energy Technology Ventures, a company with plans to nurture 30 or so companies with promising and innovative ideas for clean energy technology.
Closer to home, UMass Dartmouth is nurturing clean tech at its Advanced Technology and Manufacturing in Fall River. The Cambridge Innovation Center is offering green startups state-of-the-art technical and business support in Kendall Square.
The Clean Energy Fusion Center is helping to build green-tech companies in Waltham. The Institute for Energy and Sustainability is building a green zone for clean-tech companies in Worcester, and the Springfield Business Incubator is providing support for green tech innovations in the western part of the state.
Business incubators have been around for decades but the model got a huge boost when the Obama Administration announced last year that it planned to funnel $50 billion-worth of grants, low-interest loans and tax credits to clean tech startups throughout the nation.
O’Brien says, generally, the inventors and innovators designing new energy-efficient products, systems and services don’t have the time or the wherewithal to slog through the red tape that bundles all that federal funding.
“The typical client is probably an engineer whose love and passion is engineering,” he says. “These people don’t want to spend 40 hours a week trying to find grants to fund ideas.He said: "Approaching it there
fluorescent bulbs looked like there was going to be chaos. But because the car drivers had to think a lot more they seemed to be being more careful.”
O’Brien says the center takes on that role for clean-tech designers who have outgrown the research and development labs in their basements.
But clean-tech incubators aren’t just hatching new businesses; they are also putting small companies on the fast track. Solais already has a line of LED spotlights, or lamps, that Chief Technology Officer Steve Johnson says can trim as much as 75 percent off the electric bill for a company or retail center.
Solais worked some of the major bugs out of existing LED technology and developed spotlights with less heat and more optical efficiency.
“We’re still in the small stage,” says Johnson. “We developed a product and we’re making sales.”
Local job-growth factor
The parts for Solais lights are made in North Carolina and shipped to China for assembly. O’Brien and the rest of the Clean Tech Center Staff want to help Solais keep its operation in the states, and, more specifically, in Newburyport.Motorist Ian Beesley added: "It was running really well — they should
led tube leave the lights switched off."
Staying home would help Solais with its new strategy to offer custom-designed lighting systems for commercial spaces. The company would be able to respond faster and provide more options for its customers.
If the Clean Tech Center can help clear the pathway for Solais to open a local manufacturing center in Newburyport, it would potentially bring about 100 new jobs to the North Shore. And those jobs would be across the board, from marketing, to sales, to research and assembly.
Both O’Brien and Johnson say Newburyport is the Clean Tech Center’s ace in the hole in the competitive high-stakes hunt for viable green-tech startups.
“It’s an affluent area that’s desirable for business,” says O’Brien, adding that Newburyport already has a core group of people committed to clean technology and new businesses can thrive being in a location with like-minded people.
Johnson says Newburyport is an incentive for talent to relocate.
“If you need to bring people here, it’s an attractive place,” he says.
It’s also a strategic location, since Osram Sylvania has more than 100 years of history on the North Shore, and suppliers and experienced workers on all levels are here. Johnson himself is a former Sylvania executive.
The idea of a new, clean-tech company with a possible 100 new jobs was enough to attract a crew of local, state and federal agencies, administrations, organizations and banks to the center on Feb. 18. According to O’Brien, everyone brought something interesting and useful to the table.
Johnson says one of the biggest surprises was information about the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture grant program aimed at launching clean-tech companies in rural areas to bring more economic opportunities to farm communities. That slice of information came courtesy of U.S. Rep John Tierney.
While he had to stay in Washington and didn’t make it to Newburyport on Feb. 18, Tierney sent a videotape to cheer along the Center and Newburyport.
Johnson says, no matter how big the pool of public money, and no matter how groundbreaking the new product or idea, it’s a tough economy. Finding the money and the support to grow a green-tech company can be tough. The Clean Tech Center is making that process easier and more promising for Solais.
“We are getting a warm reception for local, state and federal agencies. We’ve presented a business model, and we have the help of the center,” says Johnson. “It’s nice, because they are businessmen and they understand us as a business.”
