Israel ‘best place’ on planet for clean-tech entrepreneurs according to Cleantech Group and WWF
The Cleantech Group and WWF have published the Global Cleantech Innovation Index for 2014, and Israel is in the number 1 position.
According to the report, “Israel topped the 2014 index, with its relative outperformance on the measure of start-up companies per capita being a key reason that it did so. The country generates the culture, education and ‘chutzpah’ necessary to breed innovation, plus it has the survival instincts to manage a resource-constrained geography.” The report cited a number of successful Israeli cleantech companies, including wastewater treatment ompany Emefcy and seed technology firm Kaiima.
“We’re pleased by the Cleantech Group and WWF declaration,” said Oded Distel, who heads Israel NewTech, Israel’s government program for the advancement of the cleantech sector, in the Ministry of Economy. “We at Israel NewTech have been working since 2006 to help Israel’s innovative and quickly growing cleantech companies break through in international markets, and to support the sector in Israel in a variety of ways. We’re happy to see many of Israel’s cleantech companies succeeding and the international community taking note.”
The report also pointed out government support as one of the country’s success factors, saying “Israel has increased its supportive government policies and has early stage cleantech-oriented funds as well as substantial M&A activity, even while cleantech company revenues remain low. The country has seen an impressive number of cleantech companies voted into the Global Cleantech 100 index per GDP over the past 2 years.”
According to the report: Israel is the cleantech innovation archetype for both embedding entrepreneurial spirit into its educational system and into its society’s everyday norms as well as for predisposing its start-ups to resource innovation – as a survival mechanism to overcome resource constraints and energy dependency. Relative to the size of its economy, Israel has had a disproportionate number of cleantech companies (19 in total) voted by the cleantech community into the shortlist of the Global Cleantech 100 index over the past 3 years.
Finland and the USA are rated the second and third best countries, while there are signs China, India and Brazil are starting to offer more attractive markets for new businesses. The study covers 40 countries, including all of the G20. Compiled by the Cleantech Group, it is based on a country’s ability to create and commercialise innovation. Other countries making the top 10 include Sweden (4), Denmark (5) the UK (6) and Ireland (10) which anticipates cleantech jobs will grow to 80,000 by 2020.
