NVCA Today

CLEANTECH

NVCA Letter to President Obama on CEDA

As President Obama and key Senators construct a bill aimed at creating new jobs, NVCA led an effort to send the President a letter encouraging him to include the Senate Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA) legislation in the Administration’s Jobs bill. The letter is signed by entrepreneurs, VCs and industry stakeholders.  Enactment of the CEDA has long been a priority of the NVCA Cleantech Advisory Council and would help create jobs in the energy economy.

The CEDA provides credit support for deployment of both existing clean energy technologies and also innovative technologies that are key to America’s global economic competitiveness in clean energy. If enacted, CEDA would provide investors the confidence to invest now in entrepreneurial companies with innovative technologies, knowing that there will be the financing available later for their first commercial-scale facility.  That will spur job creation this year in countless new companies across the country.

NVCA believes the CEDA is preferable to the other energy financing entity that is being considered by lawmakers and is referred to as the “Green Bank.”  In contrast to CEDA, the Green Bank would create a brand new government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and its financing would be limited to existing energy technologies instead of funding novel, higher risk technologies.  In addition, it would take months, if not years, to stand up an entirely new GSE, whereas CEDA would be affiliated with DoE and could be up and running within six months.

The CEDA letter to President Obama can be viewed on the NVCA website at: http://www.nvca.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=547&Itemid=93

Cleantech Members Urged to Attend DOE ARPA-E Energy

The U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) is hosting a first ever ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit on March 1 – 3, 2020 at the Gaylord National Convention Center in Washington, DC.  The summit is being organized by the Clean Technology and Sustainable Industries Organization (CTSI), with key support from the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and the Kauffman Foundation.  NVCA members who are investing in cleantech or who would like to learn more about DOE ARPA-E grants are strongly encourage to attend.

The ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit will bring together the nation's energy leaders to share ideas, collaborate and identify future technology opportunities and gaps. Participants will include members of the scientific and research communities, venture capital investors, technology entrepreneurs, corporations with an interest in clean energy technologies, policymakers and government officials.

The Summit will present ARPA-E's first round of awardees and - for the first time - showcase many of the 250 additional top-ranking projects – out of nearly 3,700 concept papers submitted – from ARPA-E's first $150 million solicitation.

• Some of the participants leading US energy policy and business decision makers include:
  • Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy
  • Kristina Johnson, Under Secretary of Energy
  • Arun Majumdar, ARPA-E Director
  • Desh Deshpande, Founder, Sycamore Networks
  • Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate
  • Jeffrey Immelt, Chairman and CEO of GE
  • John Doerr, Kleiner Perkins
  • Vinod Khosla, Founder, Khosla Ventures
  • James Woolsey, Partner, Vantage Point Venture Partners; former CIA Director
• Panel topics will include: identifying game-changing technologies, building regional energy innovation clusters, the role of energy in our national security, and successfully developing and commercializing energy technology breakthroughs.
• "Partner with ARPA-E" – Pre-Conference Workshop on Monday, March 1 – where researchers, entrepreneurs and investors can meet ARPA-E's Program Directors, discuss the goals and directions for ARPA-E's program areas, and learn the outcomes of previous workshops on these topics. Will offer tutorials on topics such as best practices for commercializing breakthrough energy technologies and taking advantage of the SBIR program.
• "Transformative Technologies Showcase" – explore and interact with the researchers and companies bringing the next generation of energy technologies to market.

For more information on the DOE ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit and to register, visit: http://www.ct-si.org/events/EnergyInnovation

Oak Ridge National Lab Hosts Global Venture Challenge

Oak Ridge National Lab has reached out to NVCA for judges for the fourth annual Global Venture Challenge being held on March 24-26, 2010 in Oak Ridge, TN. This unique educational event brings together teams of graduate students from around the world to compete for cash prizes with $25,000 awarded to the winning team.

Oak Ridge National Lab has an excellent tract record for commercializing technologies that have come out of the lab and is ranked near to top for patents and companies spun out of the lab.  The event will feature innovations in ENERGY and SECURITY and attracts venture investors from across the country which serve as judges and provides the opportunity to get a glimpse at emerging research being conducted at ORNL.

Past participants include:

For more information or if you would like to be a judge in the competition, please contact, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it