Applications for this years competition is now open. Please read more here.

There is a great article on the Nordic Cleantech Open and the Cleantech Venture Day in Copenhagen on the Nordic Innovation Center web page. Read the article here.

The tone at most events tends to be positive from the outset. It is no wonder: Here we are – gathered to share deals, find new ones and build our network, why not make the most of it?

But as the hours pass and speakers switch places on stage, it can change

Innovative Ecospark with its light technology solution was singled out by the audience and jury as the most promising cleantech start-up at the Nordic Cleantech Open 2011 today in Copenhagen. The award marks the completion of the very first Nordic Cleantech Open, and kick-starts the Cleantech Capital Day – Scandinavia’s most prominent cleantech investment day.

Read more in the press release.

Or read the Swedish version of the press release here.

The innovative Cleantech companies Oricane and Applied Nano Surfaces, both from Sweden, took second and third place as the most promising young start-ups in Scandinavia last night during the finals of the competition Nordic Cleantech Open.

Read more in the press release.

Or read the Swedish version of the press release here.

The top 10 have been selected out of more than 80 applications based on a careful screening, and represent some of the very best the Nordic cleantech start-up scene has to offer. Their innovative solutions promise to change our everyday life and the way common goods and services are produced ensuring successful market introduction and high growth potential.

The companies represent solutions from a wide array of industries and technologies such as artificial Intelligence, industrial robotics, nano technology and highly efficient ITC solutions side by side with more well-known cleantech sectors such as lighting, wind, and solar.

They will present their cases in connection to the Cleantech Capital Day in Copenhagen where the audience votes for the winner of the first ever Nordic Cleantech Open.

For more information se the press release.

It was no picnic to get everyone trough the security gates at the far end of Pater Noster Sqare, but it was worth the wait. Once in, participants to the more than sold out Nordic Cleantech Showcase were met by the overwhelming feeling of actually being the centre of attention at one of the world oldest financial trading houses.

The square that hosts the London Stock Exchange is full of cafes. Fittingly so, since the exchange was started by a small group of like minded businessmen who up till then used coffee houses to meet and trade shares in companies. Now home to some of the largest, most successful and dynamic companies in the world it was a very suitable place to present 9 selected expansion and 9 selected start-up opportunities from the Nordic cleantech sector.

Participants got straight into things with the selected Nordic Cleantech Open finalists lining the walls with their solutions. These companies, who all have disruptive innovations and target big markets, where introduced to some of the biggest investors on the European cleantech scene as well as a few American guests. We got a lot of feedback from investors on these companies and it is clearly very attractive business cases, suitable for more than a few of the participating investors

The Nordic Cleantech Open companies by their stands.

Presentations on stage by 9 selected expansion stage companies followed. These were actors past commercialisation, now looking to expand their operations.

We concluded the day with Cleantech Scandinavia presenting the current state of the Nordic cleantech venture market, as 2010 figures point to a good year of deals, and seed investments taking off for the first time since 2007, but now at higher amounts

We at Nordic Cleantech Open are very proud to announce the top 25 finalists of this years competition.

The top 25 have a few traits in common:
– They are all targeting big international markets,
– They where founded relatively recently (a majority are less than two years old), and
– They have the potential to make real positive change for the environment.

The top 25 were selected by a jury of 32 individuals, a lot of them very experienced investors and industrials and other people with insights in cleantech markets. The Jury where instructed to evaluate the growth potential of the companies based on three things: the innovation, the market opportunity and the team of the companies.

The 25 finalists are:

AkkuSer
Applied Nano Surfaces
BT Wood
Cortus
Ecospark
Enevo
EnSol
GridManager
Innowind
JustCommonSense
MHG Systems
Mzymes
Netcycler
Oricane
Pontoon Power
Rehact
ReMake Electric
Scandinavian Energy Efficiency Co, SEEC
Seaweed Energy Solutions
Sorbwater Technology
Sorubin
Svenska Aerogel
Vigor Wave Energy
WindFlip
ZenRobotics

With the squeezed time limit for this years competition this was even better than we hoped for.

We will do a more in depth analysis of the contestants for the Top 25 Publication but a few things can be revealed already