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The Carbon Trust has today launched a new service designed to ‘turbo charge’ and stimulate investment in early-stage clean tech companies. This will help create a step-change in the growth of high tech, low carbon businesses in the UK. The launch of Carbon Trust Entrepreneurs Fast Track, developed after consultation with Britain’s emerging low carbon technology companies, was welcomed by business leaders, including Sir James Dyson, Federation of Small Business, the business angel community and the UK Government.

The principal aim of Carbon Trust Entrepreneurs Fast Track is to accelerate the commercialisation of Britain’s best early stage clean tech companies, taking them from high risk start-ups to attractive investment propositions. The commercialisation of the country’s early stage companies in the low carbon sector is central to the creation of new jobs across the UK, boosting export revenues and helping the UK move to and prosper in the low-carbon economy. 

Carbon Trust Entrepreneurs Fast Track has been developed after consultation with more than 400 early stage clean-tech companies from across the UK .  According to this latest research ‘proof of concept’ and prototype building/testing were ranked by small companies as the two most valuable types of support needed to move towards technology commercialisation. This was followed by: the need for assistance in protecting knowledge by navigating the complex issue of intellectual property; and access to seed or venture capital finance.

Minister for Energy & Climate Change, Greg Barker, said: “Low carbon investment is a vital part of our economic recovery. The Entrepreneurs Fast Track service will give a much needed boost to innovative companies developing green technologies. This will be vital in growing the UK’s low carbon industry, creating new jobs across the country and tackling climate change.”

Sir James Dyson CBE, one of the UK’s leading inventors and one of the world’s most successful industrial designers in the past 20 years, has welcomed the Carbon Trust’s initiative: “The UK will become a leading exporter of low carbon technology – if given the right support.  Inventive British companies that invest in research and development are seen as a risky proposition. But new technologies are vital to the long-term health of our economy.
 
“Now is the time to act: we need to match a growing awareness of our environmental impact with British ingenuity. Developing new technology takes time, and other countries have stepped up the pace. This Carbon Trust scheme supports the UK’s most promising low carbon technologies by moving quickly to commercialise new ideas.”

Specifically Carbon Trust Entrepreneurs Fast Track will provide a customised package of research and development funding, expert advice and enhanced networking opportunities, to the leading UK clean tech ventures with the highest growth potential.

For the first time, the Carbon Trust will support low carbon entrepreneurs to turn their concepts into working prototypes. This will sit alongside support for technology development and demonstration, as well as strategic commercial and expert technical advice on matters such as identifying optimal business models, building capable management teams and protecting intellectual property.
 
Tom Delay, Chief Executive of the Carbon Trust said:  “The UK has great entrepreneurial talent and many promising low carbon ideas.  But early-stage companies struggle to make the transition from concept to commercialisation owing to the high-risk nature of such ventures, and the associated difficulty in attracting financing and managerial talent. The Entrepreneurs Fast Track aims to de-risk these ventures by advancing technology development and building a solid commercial foundation for growth.”

Anthony Clarke, Chair BBAA said: “Business angels are increasingly attracted to the clean tech sector and can play a key part in the effective commercialisation of innovations, offering both finance and business building skills.  We are delighted that the Carbon Trust has developed this new Entrepreneurs Fast Track scheme providing angel investors with an important new interface with investment ready clean tech start-ups.”

David Caro, Chair of the FSB Environment Committee commented: “Innovative green small businesses have the potential to lead the way to a low carbon economy.  However, it is crucial that they are able to make the leap from risky start-ups to commercially viable investment opportunities if we are to realise this potential.  The Carbon Trust’s Entrepreneurs Fast Track scheme is exactly what we need to help our early-stage clean tech firms make this leap and help the UK reap the rewards of the move to a low carbon economy.”

John Sauven, Executive Director, Greenpeace UK also welcomed the Carbon Trust’s offering: “Developing early stage clean technology is a key area for laying the foundations of a new economy. If the UK is to stay in the game then it has to foster the commercialisation of new ideas.”

A number of emerging clean-tech firms across the UK have already benefited from Carbon Trust support including Bath-based G-volution which has developed a lower cost lower emission dual fuel system for the commercial transport sector:

Chris Smith, Managing Director commented, “The Carbon Trust support of our business came at a very critical time for us.  It enabled all our stakeholders to understand that we have a unique technology with real carbon reducing potential – and that as a business we had the potential to be world beating.  It is hard to overstate the immense value of this to all of us, management team, shareholders, customers, both in terms of professional support and assistance in becoming investment ready, and in terms of the belief Carbon Trust helps to sustain – I see it as absolutely critical in its importance to our business then and now.”

Any entrepreneur, start-up or spin-out company with a genuinely innovative low carbon idea or technology should visit www.carbontrust.co.uk/fast-track to register your interest and find out more about the application process.

Source : The Carbon Trust