Coming just days after the Academy Awards, one might liken the Globe 2016 Conference and Innovation Expo to the movie industry.
For one, it takes place in Vancouver – the home base for many blockbuster film shoots. And more than a few media-savvy stars like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be in attendance.
But beyond those surface-level parallels, Globe Series chief operating officer Nancy Wright says North America’s oldest and largest summit dedicated to innovation in a low-carbon economy is really just like the Toronto International Film Festival.
“It’s about setting up deals,” she told Business in Vancouver.
“There are financing opportunities at Globe, there are investors coming to Globe, there are distributors coming to Globe. So they [exhibitors] have the opportunity to really launch and start exporting their product.”
Wright added the Paris climate conference last December has given politicians and businesses considerable momentum coming into the conference compared with previous years.
In addition to Trudeau, four premiers – not including Premier Christy Clark – will be featured on a panel discussing climate change.
Meanwhile, representatives from major multinationals like Ikea, Unilever (NYSE:UN), HP (NYSE:HPQ) and Dell are dropping in to survey the clean-tech innovations being showcased.
“You would never find this kind of audience anywhere else,” Wright said.
Organizers estimate 9,000 pairs of feet will touch the ground at the Vancouver Convention Centre March 2-4, including about 2,000 conference delegates connected to the clean-tech industry. Among them is General Fusion CEO Nathan Gilliland, whose Burnaby-based company is developing technology that harnesses fusion power – a process by which atoms release energy when they are merged together and lose mass.
His company is about a year away from a large-scale prototype, but its technology research will be showcased throughout the exhibition.
“Clean energy has had its ups and downs,” Gilliland said. “That energy has returned the last couple years with (a) more interest from the governmental level, (b) additional investor support and (c) progress in the industry.”
While General Fusion won’t be seeking investors at the conference – the company has raised approximately $100 million from financiers since its founding in 2002 – Gilliland said the conference is a nexus for policy-makers, corporations, investors and private companies.
“As a result, we collectively can define where the industry should head and what specific goals of an industry we should have and what our messaging should be.”
The conference comes just six weeks after Vancouver-based Evok Innovations launched a $100 million clean-tech fund for startups with financing from Calgary’s Cenovus Energy (TSX:CVE) and Suncor Energy (TSX:SU).
While companies like General Fusion won’t be looking for investors, Evok is hosting a competitive pitch session for early-stage clean-tech companies. The winner secures a one-on-one meeting with a technology development expert at a major energy company.
Two Vancouver-based companies were shortlisted for the competition, including ME Resource Corp. (CSE:MEC), which has developed technology that allows it to convert oil byproducts from waste into usable materials like diesel or heating oil.
“We are a public company today, but irrespective of being a public company, money is always hard to find,” CEO Parminder Singh said.
“What you’re most interested in doing is getting an audience and getting the right audience and being able to vet your idea in front of that audience, such that people that have the wherewithal to invest in you … can understand your pitch.”
Instead of having to travel to Houston or San Francisco to seek out venture capitalists, Singh said he’ll have the benefit of investors coming to Vancouver specifically for Globe. It’s that hometown advantage that Darryl Wolanski said is going to be a big factor for local players in attendance.
“With the change of the government at the federal level, I think we’ve seen renewed enthusiasm for clean-tech projects which are capital-intensive,” said the vice-president of business development at Burnaby-based carbon capture technology developer Inventys Inc.
“Because [Globe] is right here in our backyard, we’re going to have a large contingent of not only tech companies but also governments.”
