Although some may argue that the most severe global recession since the
Great Depression is already coming to an end, the positive effects of the
gigantic stimulus packages around the globe have yet to develop their real
impact.
One of the main beneficiaries of those packages, however, will be the
promotion of green technology.
This post focuses on European cleantech companies who have decided to
accelerate their growth by participating in this new Green Rush, especially in
the United States.
I am pleased to share some of my thoughts about the current market
development in this post.
The U.S. stimulus package includes some $110 billion to be invested in
green technologies. This opens up a tremendous opportunity for European
companies that are able to benefit from their longer cleantech history.
The numbers vary, but one thing is clear: the largest economy in the
world, the United States, will be spending more money than ever before on
cleantech in the wake of the Obama administration’s stimulus package.
The Institute for the World Economy (IfW) estimates that expenditures
for green technologies could very well total some $110 billion, including
funding for such issues as renewable energies ($33 billion), energy efficient
buildings ($31 billion) and water supply infrastructure ($16 billion).
Approximately 20 years after the green movement in Europe paved the way
for European governments to back cleantech
investments, the United States is now embarking on an enormous race to catch up
– and in the past, this country has demonstrated its ability to do so!
While this is fueling a VC cleantech boom in the U.S., the green
billions in stimulus money also represent a tremendous opportunity for European
players.
Companies based in Europe are now reaping the fruits of a 20-year
cleantech tradition, an entrepreneurial culture in this field, a large base of
well-trained engineers and a well-established ecosystem – and are therefore
well positioned to benefit from the emerging market opportunity in the United
States.
Conditions in Central Europe are reminiscent of a green Silicon Valley
that is now looking toward the West to become a part of the Cleantech Rush.
For a new generation of start-ups, the U.S. opportunity also represents
a chance to overcome the main hurdle standing in the path of broad-based
adoption of cleantechnologies in the Old World: the general skepticism on the
part of customers toward new players and the desire for a 100-percent solution
prior to adoption.
The U.S. market is poised to be more open toward initially imperfect
solutions, looking to learn and adjust them to produce more mature solutions
over time.
