NORWEGIAN CLEANTECH AWARD 2010
NorwegiaN CleaNteCh
award2010
The Cleantech sector in
Norway is on the rise, and
attracts great national and
foreign interest.
Norwegian solar energy relat-
ed technologies have attract-
ed plenty of funding through
companies such as Norsun,
Metallkraft and Innotech So-
lar. This development contin-
ues during the first quarter in
2010, with the top five invest-
ments being Norwegian. Will
this success be repeated and
even accelerated in the years
to come?
iNtroduCtioNThe Norwegian Cleantech
Award aims to highlight the
cleantech succes stories yet to
come and provide an answer
to this question by doing so.
The Award is presented
by Cleantech Scandinavia,
Statkraft, Investinor and In-
novation Norway. It is a way
to help promising Norwegian
cleantech startups reach out
to the investors and indus-
try leaders across the Nord-
ics and internationally. The
award was open to cleantech
companies that had received
less than EUR 1,000,000 (1
million) in external private fi-
nancing (grant funding, inter-
nal industrial and money from
friends and family excluded).
A significant marketing effort
was made, reaching out to in-
novation hotspots in Norway,
including science parks and
incubators, as well as network
organisations, research insti-
tutes and seed funds – all in
all some 65 organisations. We
also got in touch directly with
over 70 Norwegian cleantech
companies. As a result the
jury reviewed an impressive
27 relevant applications. The
quality of the applicants was
deemed to be high and the
selection was not easy.
The winner of the five finalists
was selected during a ses-
sion at the Cleantech capital
day in Oslo 2010. The win-
ning company was awarded
EUR 10 000 and a selection
of free advisory services from
Statkraft and Investinor. The
jury selecting the final five
finalists consisted of repre-
sentatives from Cleantech
Scandinavia, Statkraft, In-
vestinor, BASF Venture Capi-
tal and Innovation Norway.
The overall and main criteria
was growth potential, judged
through information provided
by the participants regarding
innovation, ability to execute
and market.
In 2009, out of the top 20 Nordic investment deals, no less than eight were Norwegian, including the larg-est investment.
1 Introduction
appliCatioNs by stages
The distribution here is very
similar to that of the com-
panies receving venture
financing in the Nordic re-
gion during (to energy re-
lated segments in 2009) so
this tells us that the energy
focus is likely to continue in
terms of Norwegian dealflow.
”Water” and ”Air and Environ-
ment” are mong the more
traditional environmental
technology segments and it
encouraging to see that inno-
vation is clearly taking place
also in these industries. It is
notable also that we received
no applications from the
highly sought after energy
storage segment.
appliCatioNs by CleaNteCh segmeNts
Since we aimed for the early
stage companies, the distri-
bution below is basically as
expected.
Applications by stageLaboratory scale technology testing 50%Prototype ready 31%Real scale / customer ready 19%
Applications by segmentEnergy generation 50%Energy storage 0%Energy infrastructure 8%Energy efficiency 4%Transportation and logistics 4%Water and wastewater 12%Air and environment 12%Advanced materials 8%Manufacturing and industrial 4%Agriculture 0%Waste and recycling 0%
2 Applications
3 Profiles
profiles of the five seleCted fiNalists
PRODUCT INFOKyoto Energy has designed a
portfolio of products specifi-
cally for the sun-rich develop-
ing countries. Their products
allow families, villages, farms
and industry to switch from
using fossil fuels and wood to
solar and bio energy. By using
common materials like plastic
and aluminum in their innova-
tive products, and claiming
carbon credits from the use of
these products, Kyoto Energy
makes it possible to produce
electricity and heat at a lower
cost than coal.
COMPANY INFO Name of the company
Kyoto Energy ASWebsite
www.kyoto-energy.com
Location
Raufoss, Nairobi, Cape Town and Indonesia
Cleantech segment
Energy generation
4 Profiles
PRODUCT INFOWindFlip has its roots in the
Norwegian Institute of Sci-
ence and Technology (NTNU)
where it has developed a novel
solution of transportation and
installation of offshore float-
ing wind turbines – a WindFlip
barge. The barge transports
one fully assembled turbine,
lying in a nearly horizontal
position on top of its deck.
Once at the offshore site, the
barge starts filling its ballast
tanks and the stern is conse-
quently submerged, until it flips
90 degrees and the turbine is
standing in vertical position.
PRODUCT INFOECOsubsea developed an
environmental conscious hull
cleaning solution for the large
sea-going vessels, while they
are loading/discharging cargo
in ports. Combining hull clean-
ing, propellers polish, hull in-
spection in one operation, the
technology allows the removal
of the debris and fouling from
the underwater part of the ves-
sel while preserving the paint.
Among the benefits are the de-
crease in the spread of marine
invasive species and improved
fuel economy for the vessel.
COMPANY INFO Name of the company
WindFlip AS Website
www.windflip.com
Location
Trondheim, Norway
Cleantech segment
Transportation and logistics
COMPANY INFO Name of the company
ECOsubsea ASWebsite
www.ecosubsea.com
Location
Austevoll, Hordaland and Oslo
Cleantech segment
Energy efficiency
5 Profiles
PRODUCT INFOSorbwater developed a process
that applies Sorbfloc, a sea-
weed based, highly effective and
specialised flocculent, to remove
all particles from waste water
through chemical bonding. This
technology allows zero dis-
charge of oil and other environ-
mentally harmful components in
such applications as treatment
of produced water from oil wells,
slop water from rig drains, proc-
ess water in shale gas extraction
and other industrial processes.
The flexible and scalable system
also significantly reduces waste-
water treatment costs due to
on-site treatment.
PRODUCT INFOMemfoACT has successfully
developed a new type of carbon
membrane for gas separation,
which reduces both investment
and operation costs for a vide vari-
ety of gas separation applications.
MemfoACT is currently working on
a biogas application - the separa-
tion of CO2 from biogas - hence
upgrading the biogas or biometh-
ane production. The technology
has a significant cost reduction
potential for small scale applica-
tions. The main feature of the new
membrane is the ability to combine
high efficiency of separation and
productivity, which outperforms
commercial membranes.
COMPANY INFO Name of the company
Sorbwater Technology ASWebsite
www.sorbwater.com
Location
Bergen, Norway
Cleantech segment
Water and wastewater treatment
COMPANY INFO Name of the company
MemfoACT ASWebsite
www.memfoact.no
Location
Trondheim, Norway
Cleantech segment
Advanced materials
6 Profiles
the orgaNisatioNs behiNd the award
StatkraftStatkraft is Europe’s largest renewable
energy company. The group devel-
ops and generates hydropower, wind
power, gas power, solar power and
district heating, and is a major player
on the European power exchanges.
Statkraft also develops marine energy,
osmotic power and other innovative
energy solutions.
InvestinorInvestinor invests in Norwegian based,
high potential companies that are inter-
nationally oriented and in the phases
ranging from early growth to expansion.
The company has BNOK 2,2 under
management and focus on companies
within the energy, cleantech, maritime,
marine and travel sectors.
Innovation NorwayInnovation Norway promotes nation-
wide industrial development profit-
able to both the business economy
and Norways national economy, and
helps release the potential of different
districts and regions by contributing
towards innovation, internationalisa-
tion and promotion.
Cleantech Scandinavia Cleantech Scandinavia is a member-
ship network of investors and affiliated
cleantech professionals designed to:
Provide cleantech knowledge, con-
tacts and investment opportunities
Be a coordinating voice to promote
the Nordic cleantech sector
Drive cleantech innovation and growth
in the Nordic countries
For more information and how to become a member:
www.cleantechscandinavia.com
www.cleantechscandinavia.se