This is a special month for an organization I've served on the board of since its founding, the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association. For starters, we're holding our first Awards program and just released the 20 finalists. As I read through the list, I don't see merely a group of local entities doing good, but I see an assembly of truly world-class companies, executives and technologies making a solid difference in the advancement of cleantech around the world. It makes me proud to be part of the organizing team that's making this first cleantech recognition event happen in Colorado.
At the celebration event where we announce the winners, we've invited a close friend and business associate of mine, Ira Ehrenpreis of Palo Alto's Technology Partners, to speak. He's called a Venture Capital Visionary and a Cleantech Expert in his bio, and I can attest that it's all true and much, much more. As a board member of Tesla Motors, I've worked closely with him, experiencing his broad knowledge and keen business and cleantech acumen. It's no mystery to me why our event was sold out two weeks in advance -- the "secret sauce" was being fortunate enough to have Ira Ehrenpreis as our keynote speaker.
Lastly, this month we're rolling out Colorado's Cleantech State Plan, or Roadmap as we often call it. In spring of 2010, the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association commissioned Navigant Consulting, Inc., to analyze the state's clean technology core competencies in relation to the competitive landscape; map the state's assets and barriers; identify gaps; and propose a 3-5 year action plan to continue growing targeted sectors within the cleantech industry. Key findings of this 5-month, $200K project will be shared at a Colorado State Capitol news conference on October 18th. We're all clamoring to hear all the details shared at the conference, so stay tuned.
PS: for those that missed it, the Colorado Biz Magazine published this overview of the state of Colorado's Cleantech industry in partnership with the CCIA. It's a great read, and it's exciting to see Colorado lead the country in so many areas.