NYAS and the Knowledge Economy Institute Partner on Clean Tech Leadership Forum

What will it take to build a new generation of high-growth entrepreneurial R&D businesses working at the bio-clean technology interface to produce jobs and solutions for global problems? That was the question at hand when New York Academy of Sciences staff moderated a leadership forum at the New York Stock Exchange last week. On Thursday, May 6, and Friday, May 7, Karin Pavese, Academy Vice President, Innovation & Sustainability, joined partners from the Knowledge Economy Institute and a select group of high-level clean energy stakeholders for the NYSE-KE2 “Clean Tech Economy Leadership Forum.”

The invitation-only forum was designed to explore what needs to happen to ensure that the U.S. can build scale to innovate, commercialize, and rebuild the economy with new jobs and solutions for critical global challenges. Leaders from business, investment, research institutions, government, and philanthropic organizations were invited to discuss and debate how to produce sustainable economic growth in the face of today's new reality.

The two-day forum emphasized clean energy and the convergence of different fields of science and technology; and of different business models and business sectors, such as biotechnology, energy, IT, and materials. Participants included representatives of CMEA Capital, United Technologies, Ernst & Young Americas Cleantech Network, Deutsche Bank, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers Green Tech Initiative, GE Global Research Center, Goldman Sachs & Co. Environmental Markets Group, McKinsey & Co., and the NYC Mayor's Office, among many others.

A roundtable on Thursday afternoon examined ways to find and create value in clean energy, and to mobilize science and technology investments. And on Friday, after Knowledge Economy Institute Managing Director Michael Whitehouse rang the NYSE Opening Bell, discussions centered on achieving U.S. leadership in clean technology, clean technology capital formation and financing strategies, business models and market creation strategies for emerging clean technologies, and public- and private-sector strategies for incubating clean technology.

Forum organizers issued a challenge to participants to come up with new ideas for accelerating the transfer of developments from the research lab to the commercial pipeline and tangible outcomes: “Responding to the need for a more efficient approach to incubating and harvesting promising new technologies, we challenge participants to consider how you can apply your knowledge and resources to accelerate the impact of public investment in research.”