The Clean Tech Center
• Announces first companies in NYSERDA supported clean energy business development program
• Launches Clean Tech 2.0 initiative to connect clusters of green innovators
• Releases first comprehensive Central Upstate clean tech resource guide

Leaders gather today from around the globe in Copenhagen for the start of the UN Climate Conference to discuss how to transform the world's renewable energy technology base. In conjunction, green leaders from across the region are gathering at The Clean Tech Center in Upstate New York to plant a new crop of clean tech companies that will help grow the State's clean energy economy.

NYSERDA made a multi-year award to The Tech Garden to establish The Clean Tech Center. The program formally launched in July 2009. It is designed to incubate early stage companies and accelerate the growth of high-value renewable and clean energy companies in New York State.

Clean tech encompasses categories such as:

• Renewable Energy: Biomass, Geothermal, Hydro, Solar, Solar Thermal, Wave, Wind
• Alternative Fuels: Biofuels, Biodiesel, Synfuels, Clean Fuels
• System Integration: Distributed Generation / On-Site Power, Energy Storage, Smart Grid
• Transportation: Electric Vehicles , Fuel Cells , Hybrid Electric , Hydrogen, Advanced Battery Technologies
• Buildings & Construction: Energy Efficient Construction Materials, HVAC Systems, Lighting, Energy Supply & Storage, Intelligent, Green Buildings
• Environmental Systems: Air and Water Quality, Design, Engineering, Management and Bio-remediation
• Energy Conservation: Energy Analysts, Auditors, Installers, Insulators, Recyclers, New Industrial Processes and Green Manufacturing
• Clean Tech Support Services: Licensing, IP, Structuring Early Stage Equity and VC Investments, Emissions Trading, Carbon Credits and REC's

The Clean Tech Center's NYSERDA supported program focuses on grid-related technologies that harness renewable sources, reduce the carbon footprint and conserve energy. The Clean Tech Center will be working with companies in these sectors to refine their business and market development plan, and their commercialization and funding strategy. The SyracuseCoE will work with The Clean Tech Center to help address technology development needs. Other partners include The MDA and the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, as well as a consortium of academic institutions, support organizations and investor groups. The goal is to create "investment-ready" companies.

First-round companies admitted to the program include:

• Antek, Syracuse, NY: Advanced solar cells
• GoVo Biofuels, The Tech Garden: Scalable liquid biomass project
• Greenview, Utica, NY: Advanced energy management software technology
• Impact Technologies, Syracuse, NY: Vertical wind
• Innovation Fuels, The Tech Garden: Biofuel production from alternative feedstocks
• IntelliSyn, Syracuse University: Unique butanol technology
• microGen, West Henrietta, NY: MEMS based energy harvesting technology
• Paper Battery, Troy, NY: Advanced battery technology
• SolarNovar, Plattsburgh, NY; Electro-mechanical tracking system for high performance solar panels

"New York's economic future will depend on entrepreneurs like those joining The Clean Tech Center whose clean energy businesses will strengthen our economy while improving our environment," said Francis J. Murray Jr., President and CEO of NYSERDA. "I'm proud that NYSERDA's $1.5 million investment in the Clean Tech Center earlier this year helped establish the incubator and allows us to play a role in the early development of these businesses and we look forward to their future success. Their work will help achieve Governor Paterson's vision for a clean energy economy for New York's future."

"Green innovation is a strategy for the future," according to Linda Hartsock, executive director of The Clean Tech Center. "As the world's need for energy grows, the challenge will be to create a clean energy infrastructure over the next 30 years that is twice as large as our current energy infrastructure. That means we need to radically accelerate the timeline of clean energy technology breakthroughs. This is an unprecedented economic opportunity for entrepreneurs to be part of this green revolution."

The second round of applications to The Clean Tech Center - NYSERDA program will open today, with the next crop of companies to be announced March 1, 2009. Applications can be made to The Clean Tech Center.

In addition to announcing first round companies selected for the new program, The Clean Tech Center also launched Clean Tech 2.0 - an interactive web-based platform, using open-source software, to facilitate collaboration.

Components include:
• A website that includes services and resources, www.thecleantechcenter.com
• A news site that tracks clean tech industry announcements, market drivers, and innovation related to technology, programs, finance and policy in NYS, www.cleantechny.blogspot.com
• Facebook, Twitter and other social media tools to build a clean tech community across Upstate NY

The Clean Tech Center also released the first comprehensive clean tech resource guide, which is an inventory of assets to grow the energy economy and advance sustainability in Central Upstate New York. The directory includes energy and environmental programs at regional colleges and universities. It also includes an inventory of grants and funding programs, support organizations and other resources. It is a searchable, downloadable, hyperlinked document that is easy to navigate.

The clean tech resource guide is available on-line at The Clean Tech Center website (see services and resources page):
http://www.thecleantechcenter.com/Cleantech/CleanTechManual_12_09.pdf

"Entrepreneurs in Central Upstate New York are fortunate to be able to work shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the world's top experts, right here in this region," concluded Hartsock. "This resource guide demonstrates that we have built a regional infrastructure to support the development of the green economy -- offering the promise of opportunity for our children and grandchildren, and helping solve the challenge of sustainability that faces us all."

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