(Originally published in the March 2012 issue of the Nova Scotia Business Journal - Going Green feature)
The winner of the Nova Scotia CleanTech Open competition will soon be announced.
Launched by the province in 2011 through Innovacorp, the international competition is designed to find and fund high-potential, early-stage clean technology companies. It also puts a spotlight on Nova Scotia as an ideal location for these companies to grow.
The following is the list of clean technology start-ups moving on to round two of the Nova Scotia CleanTech Open competition:
• Rentricity Inc. (New York) - Supplier of smart hydrokinetic energy recovery systems for the water and wastewater industries.
• Tocardo International BV (Netherlands) - Tidal energy turbine developer and manufacturer that, based on industry standard components, aims to generate cost-effective and reliable tidal energy.
• Marine Arctic & Antarctic Technologies Inc. (Nova Scotia) - Developer of a micro-algal bioreactor which effectively produces micro-algal biomass at an industrial level, while minimizing waste, costs and harm to the environment.
• Poduhvat LTD (Serbia) - Developer of horizontal axis, contra-rotating turbines and mobile underwater platforms for the tidal and oceanic currents power industry.
• PearlLED Inc. (California) - Developer of patent-pending technology for the next generation of LED light bulbs that provides high energy efficiency, high optical efficacy, effective thermal management to warrant long life, and novel industrial engineering for low-cost high performance.
• Nitro-Turbodyne Inc. (California) - Inventor and manufacturer of Cold-Turbine™ Technology, a low-to-medium power generation system that is cool, clean, quiet, maintenance-free and inexpensive to acquire and operate.
• GridManager A/S (Denmark) - Provider of environmental business intelligence and demand-side management solutions that help businesses and consumers save energy and optimize time of usage to minimize costs and CO2 emissions.
• CleanHydro Inc. (Florida) - Developer of hydrogen production technology that incorporates carbon sequestration from fossil fuel burning plants that is both environmentally sound and commercially viable.
• Amarok Industries (Nova Scotia) - Developer of high-performance zero emission electric motorcycles that use an innovative and patent-pending new construction technology.
• Algae Energy (Nova Scotia) - Developer of an innovative and proprietary process for extracting oil from algae for the use in biodiesel production.
In total, the 2011-2012 Nova Scotia CleanTech Open competition attracted 65 submissions from the United States, Europe, the Caribbean, China, and across Canada.
The winner, who will be announced in April, receives $100,000 in cash, a $200,000 negotiable seed investment, mentoring, and in-kind business building services, including one-year free rent of turn-key space at the Innovacorp Enterprise Centre in Halifax. At the time the prize is awarded, the company is to be incorporated in Nova Scotia, with the intent to build the business here.
*Read more "Going Green" feature stories at: http://www.ns.dailybusinessbuzz.ca/Industry-Spotlight/Going-Green-22692
