Carbon Trust seeks 25 promising clean-tech start-ups
9th September 2009
Simon Harding
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Carbon Trust are nurturing some of Britain’s most promising fledgling clean technology companies. Recent research by the department has identified clean technology as a potential high growth sector. The latest round of the Carbon Trust’s start-up incubation scheme, which is funded by public money, aims to fulfil this predication by supporting the next generation of clean-tech businesses.
The scheme helps start-ups attract more investment from the private sector, enabling their businesses to grow. 90 companies have so far completed the scheme, which is being expanded this year. Together they have attracted around £80m in private financing – an estimated £16 in private investment for every £1 from the Trust.
The Carbon Trust is currently seeking 25 new companies to participate in the scheme, which provides up to £70,000 to be spent on business consultancy, financial advice, mentoring, market research and advice on intellectual property rights. Participating companies will also be able to utilise the services of six expert small business growth consultants, among them Angle Technology, CLT and Conduit Partners.
Dave Raval, head of the Carbon Trust incubation scheme said: ‘The UK has led the development of many low carbon technologies, but we must nurture and harness the UK’s spirit of innovation and ingenuity to generate the maximum economic benefit from the global clean-tech revolution. You may have a great technology or service idea, but to make it fly and become a commercial reality, you need a strong business behind you and the know-how to attract investment. The incubator scheme has a track record of turning clean-tech innovations into high-growth businesses’.
As non-renewable
resources become scarce and expensive, the Carbon Trust estimates that 250,000 jobs could be created in the UK in wind and tidal power generation alone. The incubation scheme is a useful step on the road to the UK becoming a hub for low-carbon innovation, production and employment. It is based in sound long term thinking.
However, the scheme’s budget of £1.75m will not go far: many good companies with innovative ideas will be rejected. The budget is dwarfed by the amounts spent on other industries and appears tiny, in purely monetary terms, next to the $10 billion available to US businesses for renewable energy projects and clean energy research. If the government and the Carbon Trust are serious about the UK being a future centre for clean technology, a substantial injection of funding is needed to kick-start domestic green tech growth and act as a clear statement of intent.
Also see: ‘Carbon Trust boosts start-up funds to help fuel green tech boom’,
Carbon Trust, 3/9/09. Available at: http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/News/presscentre/clean-tech-boom.htm