CSIRO technologies presented at the AustralAsian Cleantech Forum demonstrate how the fields of biotech, nanotech, advanced manufacturing and cleantech are all starting to merge into combined solutions to the problems caused by living on a ‘hot, flat and crowded’ world.
By John O’Brien
The 5th AustralAsian Cleantech Forum, held over two days in Melbourne in early April, featured something different from prior occasions. In addition to the usual line-up of great speakers and good hospitality was a session providing an insight into some of the best Australian research into cleantech solutions. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), under the auspices of its Advanced Manufacturing Flagship, presented ground-breaking clean technologies, each of which has the potential to change the world.
The regular programme featured key note presentations from Australian federal politicians, US based private equity investors, heads of Australian pension funds and a video presentation from Dr Rajendra Pachauri of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. There were also panel sessions featuring Australian venture capital, fund management and asset consultant companies. The highlight of the speakers was Tom Soto of Craton Equity Partners in Los Angeles, who spoke of his involvement in the formation of President Obama’s cleantech initiatives.
The AustralAsian Cleantech Forum has always focused heavily on building links between India, the US and Australia, and sister events are held each year in Delhi. Although there were fewer Indian connections at this year’s forum, some Indian organisations were represented, such as one of the leading Indian cleantech funders, the Yes Bank. On day two, the forum included over 20 cleantech pitches from a wide variety of companies seeking funds. These included listed geothermal (Greenearth Energy) and solar (Dyesol) companies, as well as private companies in building products (GeoBrick, Minerals Corp Ltd, Gillon Group Technology), solar (SolarCo, Sunergy) and compressed air motors (EngineAir). Many pitching companies had ingenious technologies with global potential. However, it was the technologies presented by CSIRO that have the potential to create the most significant step changes.
CSIRO’s Cleantech Theme, under the guidance of its recently appointed director, Clive Davenport, aims to “support the growth of green jobs in the Australian manufacturing sector through the development of low emissions materials for new product development, green manufacturing processes, environmental sensing and remediation, and materials for energy generation”. The technologies presented included an intelligent building management system, OptiCOOL; a pesticide bio-remediation product; a thermoelectric technology that scavenges electricity from heat differentials; a bioderived polymer to replace multiple plastic applications; printed solar photovoltaics; and a battery storage system, Ecoult, to smooth wind farm power output.
In a recent McKinsey & Co. video interview, Lord Nicholas Stern, the UK economist and most recently author of Blueprint for a Safer Planet, was asked how he saw international climate negotiations proceeding over the next twelve months. As part of his comprehensive reply he stated that, “we are facing the biggest technological opportunity that we have had for a very long time – as big as the railways, as big as electricity, as big as the motor car and as big as information technology”.
The technologies assembled by CSIRO stand as great examples of this ‘technological opportunity’. They also provide a demonstration of how the fields of biotech, nanotech, advanced manufacturing and cleantech are all starting to merge into combined solutions to the problems caused by living on a ‘hot, flat and crowded’ world. In the discussion after the formal presentations, however, the funding gap of seed money - the ‘valley of death’ - for emerging technologies was raised as a hurdle that is preventing commercialisation. Once high quality technologies are close to generating revenue, Australian venture capitalists are interested in investing. However, until that stage is reached entrepreneurs are largely reliant on Government grants and elusive angel investors. It was suggested that Australian VCs were not really that ‘venturous’! The concept of a Government programme to specifically target seed funding was discussed – maybe through mandated allocations from pension funds. This issue clearly presents a problem for all innovative emerging clean technologies and is certainly not confined to Australia.
The CSIRO package, when compared to the variously defined sub-sectors of cleantech, gained ticks in nearly every box. It was also explained that there were many other equally exciting technologies that could have been presented. If the funding gap can be negotiated, then CSIRO has an opportunity to successfully commercialise many world leading cleantech solutions. Australia may then be able to move from its postion as a leading global research player to become the leading global cleantech solutions exporter.
One of the missing participant groups from this event, and indeed from most similar events, was the eventual clients for many of the products and services. There were few, if any, industrial buyers present looking for what technology they could source to improve efficiencies or clean up their operations. Whilst the sales process may be down the track for many of the companies presenting early stage technologies, it seems essential to engage with industry at an early stage to ensure that products being developed are those that will actually be needed. It is possible that by securing a greater engagement and collaboration with industry, it may be easier to source that difficult early stage funding.
Momentum for cleantech is growing in Australia, despite the Government having succumbed to industry and political pressure to delay its emissions trading scheme. In many ways, however, the carbon price will not feature heavily in the growth of Australian cleantech. Renewable energy will be driven by the 20% by 2020 target and water, waste, vehicle, storage and efficiency technologies will be driven by their own stand-alone economics.
The AustralAsian Cleantech Forum is always a fascinating place to be. Standing in the coffee queue, you never know whether you are going to say hello to the CEO of a pension fund, an eccentric inventor or a political lobbyist – and it is often hard to tell the difference between them. By engaging across (almost) all the involved parties, events such as this have the ability to move the industry forward through dialogue, engagement and collaboration.
John O’Brien is Managing Director of Australian CleanTech, a boutique advisory, research and broking firm that provides advice to cleantech companies and financial institutions. Australian CleanTech publishes the ACT Australian CleanTech Index.
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