Spotlight on Cleantech

Published on February 28, 2018

Leah Lawrence / President and CEO - Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC)

Tom Rand / Managing Partner - ArcTern Ventures

Jonathan Rhone / President and CEO - Axine Water Technologies

Janice Tran / Co-Founder - Student Energy

The global cleantech market represents a $1 trillion opportunity, and Canada must position itself to capture a large portion of that pie. Canadian cleantech companies are gaining increasing international recognition for their revolutionary technologies with global applications. But more must be done to secure Canada as a global cleantech leader, as well as to promote the implementation of those technologies here at home.

This Spotlight focuses on what Canada, its cleantech innovators, the federal and provincial governments, the finance community and all other key stakeholders must do more of and what we must do differently to ensure that Canada is at the head of the pack in the crucial global cleantech race.

Key Takeaways & Calls to Action

We need a “Team Canada” approach – one that involves both private and public sector leadership – to making our cleantech ecosystem competitive on the world stage.
Canada must get serious about supporting the global commercialization efforts of its cleantech companies. The market should pick winners and then the government should provide capital and commercialization support to those who can sign large commercial contracts, even though they do not have a balance sheet.
Canadian cleantech companies need more sophisticated management in the finance, marketing, sales and product management areas in order to scale up and commercialize. They also require greater local pull from more Canadian early-adopters of their technology.
Canada is at risk of brain drain; young people get frustrated with the scale of thinking, so they leave. Canada must build the support systems and environment for young talent to grow and feel supported.

Watch and Read the Experts’ Full Interviews:

The Public Funder Leah Lawrence President and CEO - Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) "We are not thinking of clean technology as a sector anymore. Instead we are thinking about transforming every sector with cleantech."

The Private Investor Tom Rand Managing Partner - ArcTern Ventures "The best way to get the rest of the community to engage is to demonstrate the massive profit potential in cleantech by scoring a few billion-dollar homeruns."

The Innovator Jonathan Rhone President and CEO - Axine Water Technologies "The government plays an important role in helping to create an ecosystem, and simulate and direct capital in areas where it can have an impact. However, it cannot magically solve all of cleantech’s challenges."

The Youth Leader Janice Tran Co-Founder - Student Energy "It is going to be up to the youth of today to put the clean growth agenda into action."