MaRS clients clean up at CleanTech North 2011

As the MaRS Cleantech practice continues to grow, I’d like to highlight some of our clients with the highest potential, showing how they’re helping enhance Ontario’s clean technology landscape–not to mention cleaning up in the awards department!

On November 16, four MaRS clients won awards at CleanTech North 2011, an annual summit showcasing Canada’s growing strength in clean technology. There’s no doubt that Ontario is advancing as a cleantech powerhouse, taking the lead in Canada’s response to climate change. The province plays host to many companies in this sector, all working to turn ideas into jobs while contributing to a sustainable future.

The following is a small glimpse at these CleanTech North 2011 award winners, just a few of the hidden gems this province has to offer. Congratulations to each of these companies!

• Morgan Solar – CTN 2011 Company of the Year –  Morgan Solar has brought concentrated solar PV into the 21^st century. The company has developed a next-generation, Concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV) solar generation system, significantly bringing down the price of solar energy. For years, companies have struggled to develop ways of concentrating the sun’s light onto PV chips using lenses. Morgan Solar has figured out a way to guide, rather than focus, the light using the same principles found in fiber optics. It’s a method of concentrating sunlight unlike any other.

• Innovative Processing Technologies (IPT) Inc. – CTN 2011 Innovation Company – IPT Inc. is actively commercializing their groundbreaking Multiple Memory Material (MMM) technology, which can give greater functionality to shape memory alloys (SMAs). SMAs are widely used in numerous industries, including clean energy solutions. For example, they are used to harvest wasted heat, so it can be converted into mechanical energy, which in turn generates electricity. With significant worldwide losses of energy in the form of heat, it is expected that quintillions of joules could be recovered, slashing fossil fuel consumption.

• REGEN  Energy Inc. – CTN 2011 Award – REGEN Energy is the supplier of a truly unique and patented smart grid technology platform called EnviroGrid ™, which helps commercial and industrial customers substantially reduce the peak electrical demand of their buildings while maintaining comfort for building occupants. Each EnviroGrid controller makes intelligent and independent decisions every few minutes. EnviroGrid provides rapid installation, rapid payback and requires minimum expertise to operate.

• Real Tech Inc. – CTN 2011 Award – Real Tech Inc. is dedicated to the design and manufacture of analytical monitoring instrumentation for the water and wastewater industry. Their products use innovative technologies to provide practical, accurate and affordable water quality solutions that allow for the rapid, real-time detection of many common and emerging contaminants. With sales in more than 30 countries, Real Tech has many high profile customers, including major municipalities, government agencies, engineering consulting firms, Fortune 500 companies and major corporations within various industries, such as food and beverage.

  It’s great to see Ontario’s unique and increasingly powerful position within the global cleantech economy. While I’ve only listed four great companies, there are a many strong ventures exerting themselves in this growing market. It will be interesting to see who wins the awards next year!