Sacramento Clean Tech Showcase Highlights Region’s Top Entrepreneurs and Innovators

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--More than 700 people today attended the 2010 Clean Tech Showcase at Sacramento State, which featured the latest innovations in solar, wind, biofuel, and energy-efficient technologies.
  
Organized by SARTA’s CleanStart, and presented by SMUD and Sacramento State among other sponsors, the event brought together the region’s most influential leaders in renewable energy and environmental technology. Ninety companies exhibited their products and technologies along with seven of the region’s most innovative startups known as Fresh Faces.

Featured speakers included Congresswoman Doris Matsui, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, Kim Walesh, Chief Strategist for the City of San José and Mark Miller, CEO of Project Frog.

Also on Tuesday, the California Smart Grid Center at Sacramento State held a ribbon cutting to celebrate its launch. Funded by the California Energy Commission, the Center supports development of smart-grid upgrades to the nation's electric grid.

Green Jobs Jumped 87% between 2000 and 2008

The number of clean technology firms in the Sacramento area has tripled in the last four years from 30 to more than 110, the fastest rate of green-job growth in the country. Green jobs jumped 87% between 2000-2008, resulting in about 13,100 jobs here in manufacturing and support services.

“There is a growing momentum in forming new clean tech companies in Sacramento,” said Gary Simon, CleanStart’s co-chairman. “The region has great assets in world-class research facilities, a growing community of entrepreneurs looking to change the world, and great access to government funding and venture capital.”

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson is spearheading a regional “Greenwise” Initiative to coordinate and energize public and private commitments to green and clean technology, while the Sacramento Metro Chamber has elevated the growth of clean tech companies to the head of its priority list and U.C. Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi is making a Sustainability Initiative the centerpiece of her early priorities for the campus.

The Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance (SARTA) and its CleanStart program help entrepreneurs and start-up companies assemble solid management teams, secure adequate funding and accelerate commercialization of sound product ideas. CleanStart was born out of a needs assessment study jointly funded and managed by the California Energy Commission and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District.