Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Impact Investing in Cleantech and Internet/Software
Announcing the 3rd Munich Network Cleantech Conference. Curt Winnen at Munich Network is bringing together thought leaders, industry decision makers, and investors for the 3rd time. The conference is gaining significant momentum and is a regular event on my calendar. Information and registration here.
Munich Network: 3rd Cleantech Conference June 24, 2010
In the upcoming edition of CSR International you can find my article “A Call for Urgency and Action: Cleantech Venture Capital in Silicon Valley and Germany”. Fritz Lietsch asked me to write about my impressions coming to Germany from Silicon Valley. In short, Germany is a great location for cleantech, but the VC scene is horribly underdeveloped. Silicon Valley started very late in the game, but with a sense of urgency (see my posts about the Singularity and The Skoll Urgent Threat Fund) and a lot of passion (see Clean Tech Open), California claims a lot more mind share than the good gold German engineering firms. Download the article here..
My friends at the Climate Prosperity Alliance have published their new tool to account for investments in the Green economy. They call it the “Global Climate Prosperity Scoreboard”, and they have found that already over $1 Trillion have been put to use in the Green economy since 2007.
Climate Prosperity Alliance
“The Climate Prosperity Alliance uses the Climate Solutions 2 computer model of Australia’s Climate Risk Pty., showing how $1 trillion invested every year for the next 10 years can assure the global transition to sustainable prosperity and job growth. This $10 trillion is less than the bailouts of failed banks in the USA and Europe and less than 10% of the world’s pension and institutional funds of $120 trillion. Institutional fund managers can shift 10% of their assets away from hedge funds, risky derivatives and commodity speculation to real investments in a greener global economy, thereby assuring their beneficiaries a healthier future.”
The leaders behind the Climate Prosperity Alliance are Dr. Marc A. Weiss, Chairman and CEO of Global Urban Development and Chair of the Climate Prosperity Alliance, and Dr. Hazel Henderson, futurist, author of “Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy” (Chelsea Green, 2006) and president of Ethical Markets Media.
A big thank you to Peter Matthies at the Conscious Business Institute for bringing this initiative to Germany.