Info Providers - Opportunities in Green
Jinfo Blog

10th November 2010

By Jan Knight

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Many independent info professionals work with start-ups and small businesses who are attempting to find a 'niche to fill' or a 'pain to solve'. Having just last week given a talk to entrepreneurs and start-up companies on the topic of Market Research for the Green Venture a few things became clear. Not only are there opportunities in this niche for start-ups to exist and potentially to find funding to grow their companies, but there is also an opportunity for information providers to specialise in this industry. My charge as a presenter was to help attendees find accessible, authoritative and reliable resources, and at the same time teach them how to dig for more information. I only briefly touched on the traditional aggregators but instead focused more on some specialised information resources that would provide a good starting point for their own research. In 2008 USAToday wrote an article citing that Venture-Capital (VC) funding for clean-tech start-ups in the USA and abroad was moving at a record pace and had hit a quarterly record of nearly $2 billion (http://digbig.com/5bctjh). More recently the Clean Tech Group and Deloitte Co published a release citing that Global Clean Technology venture investment increased 65% in early 2010 (http://digbig.com/5bctjj). This growing industry requires that entrepreneurs and funders have authoritative resources available to them to aid in their business decisions. Two resources that floated to the top are: The Clean Tech Group (http://cleantech.com/), a San Francisco-based (with offices in London) market research and advisory group specialising in Clean Technology; and ABS Energy Research (http://www.absenergyresearch.com), a London- and Toronto-based market research company focusing on worldwide energy markets. These companies offer market research reports, consulting services and authoritative resources for this emerging market. As further evidence of the opportunities in this industry, the Going Green Silicon Valley Conference (http://digbig.com/5bctjm) held just this past month, provided entrepreneurs and funders an opportunity to network and learn about 'all things green'. So, if your clients or your company are busy using buzzwords such as clean tech, renewable energy, alternative energy green tech etc. point them towards these resources. Go Green!

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