Ottawa, ON, January 29, 2009 - With more than 30 years of experience in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry, Ottawa VC Claude Haw believes that cleantech is a great investment area and that today more venture capital is going into cleantech than ICT on a global basis. In dollar terms, for example, he estimates the water industry alone is double the size of ICT.
Yet there is no reason ICT talent can't help turn clean into green. Haw, who is the Managing Partner of Ottawa-based Venture Coaches, says ICT skills are portable to many of the lucrative cleantech opportunities. "Energy efficiency is the low-hanging fruit - especially for anybody with an ICT background," said Haw on the latest cleantech podcast of OCRIRadio.com. "The electricity grid is pretty archaic in the way it's been managed ... I liken it to the telecom networks of old - a lot of enhancement required all the way through, and that presents opportunities."
On the political level, Haw praises Ontario's support for cleantech, but says the Federal government needs to pick up on U.S. President Obama's policies on renewable energy and energy security.
Another guest on the OCRIRadio.com cleantech podcast is Joanne Harack, a Toronto-based succession planning coach for cleantech and life sciences companies. She says that Ottawa cleantech start-ups should consider hiring from the city's strong pool of ICT talent: "Often you're trying to build something that's new and unusual and unique anyhow, so consider, you could hire a seasoned ICT or successful biotech executive to head up a cleantech company."
OCRIRadio.com is hosted by Jeffrey Dale, President and CEO, OCRI, and Nathan Rudyk, President and CEO of market2world communications inc. The podcast is produced by market2world. Past guests on OCRIRadio.com include Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft and John Chambers, Chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems Inc.
About market2world communications inc.
market2world is one of Canada's most innovative PR and product marketing agencies, where markets are conversations - dynamic global conversations occurring every minute of every day inside and outside organizations. market2world puts Web 2.0 tools like blogs, podcasts, wikis, and vcasts to work so companies and institutions can tap in, participate, and grow business with social media. For more information visit "The New Way Things Are" blog at www.market2world.com
About OCRI
Leading the way for Ottawa, OCRI is the city's economic development agency. OCRI is the rallying point to bring business, education, research and talent together to create the winning economic conditions that allow Ottawa's knowledge-based companies to thrive locally and compete globally. At OCRI we promote sustainable economic development to maintain our high quality of life. For more information on OCRI visit our website at www.ocri.ca and for more information on the Ottawa Region please visit www.ottawaregion.com.
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Kim Cunningham
Manager, External Communications
kcunningham@ocri.ca
Phone: 1 613 828-6274 x 256
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Jennifer James
Communications Strategist
market2world communications inc.
jjames@market2world.com
Phone: 1 613 256-3939
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