BC's Cleantech Cluster is World Class

British Columbia is home to an emerging clean technology sector that is well positioned to be a source of world class innovation. Don't believe me? Check out Xconomy Seattle's 37 company long A-Z List of Alternative Energy Players in BC published today. It's a great list that includes Chrysalix Energy, Day4 Energy, and QuestAir Technologies.

British Columbia is bigger in land area than Washington, Oregon, and California combined, but has about one-tenth the total population. Yet pound-for-pound, our neighbor to the north appears to have its share of entrepreneurs thinking hard about energy alternatives that can be profitable while also better protecting the natural environment.

We’ve been on a cleantech kick here at Xconomy this week, having already provided detailed lists of the major alternative energy players in Washington and Oregon. So to round out the picture of the greater Pacific Northwest region, we put together a similar tally for British Columbia.

For those who missed our earlier installments, here’s the basic methodology. We sought to define the cleantech cluster broadly, including innovative developers of biofuels, solar power, wind, and energy storage, as well as smart-grid applications for conservation and efficiency. We left out other environmentally-themed businesses like green builders, architects, consultants, makers of biodegradable plastics, or people who install or sell things like solar panels.

Despite BC's break-through innovations we seem to lag in the race to commercialization. But not to worry, the BC Technology Industry Association is on the case.

On March 11th at BCTIA's TechForum luncheon world leading experts will convene and discuss initiatives and measures that BC needs to take to seize the global clean technology revolution. Nicholas Parker of Cleantech Ventures LLC and Mossadiq Umedaly of BC Hydro (ex-Xantrex Technology) will share their knowledge, expertise and opinions on clean tech opportunities to be seized on a provincial and international level. If you're interested in attending be sure to register today as I hear it's filling up fast.