Interesting post on EcoSeed. Two reports from the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford say Europe is not moving quickly enough to meet its climate goals.
The continent hopes to cut greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent by 2020.
But it is relying too much on underdeveloped renewables and ignoring the increase role coal is playing in energy generation. More private investment money is needed.
Read the rest of the post here.
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news | Tagged: Clean Tech, Europe, Global Warming | 
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Posted by Mark Boslet
It is the first time since 2005 that European investments outgrow those in the US
The venture-capital industry is in a trough, to put it politely. But not clean-tech investing in Europe, where VCs are apparently looking at the long-term horizon and not becoming overly fixated on today’s low oil prices.
Dow Jones VentureSource found that in the first quarter, energy and utility-industry startups in Europe raised $289 million, an increase of 82 percent. The total was helped in part by a large investment – $192 million – placed in NorSun of Oslo, Norway.
But even still, the rise came as venture-capital investing in Europe overall fell 35 percent, and around the world (not including the U.S.) tumbled 50 percent.
In the U.S., VC funding for energy and utility-industry companies fell 59 percent during the same three-month period. While it came to $457 million, more than what was spent in Europe, the number of deals plunged to 15 from 24 a year ago.
Renewal energy companies took it particular hard. Money going to them fell 73 percent.
The European clean-tech deal count also was down, to 10 from 18 a year ago. But it was the first time since 2005 that European energy-related spending outpaced spending in the U.S., said Jessica Canning, director of global research at VentureSource.
Leave a Comment » | Alternative Energy, Clean Tech, startups, venture capital | Tagged: Clean Tech, Europe, Renewable Energy, startups, United States, venture capital | Permalink
Posted by Mark Boslet
For several decades, popular American culture has been an homogenizing force in the world. Russians wear American blue jeans, Europeans grow up listening to Jimi Hendrix, and Filipinos watch American Idol.
Social networking is the latest manifestation of that trend – and by extension a global phenomenon helping to bring the world closer together.
Already the popular U.S. site, Facebook, is the top social network in 10 European countries, as well as .U. member Turkey.
It comes in second place in three more. The only significant holdout is Germany, where it comes in fourth.
According to comScore, the site is the sixth most popular Web property worldwide with 275 million visitors in February, up 175 percent.
In Europe, 100 million people visited, a 314 percent increase. The site accounts for 4 percent of all time spent online, up from 1 percent a year ago.
Here are the countries where Facebook leads: the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway and Finland.
It is second in the Netherlands, Austria and Ireland.
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Posted by Mark Boslet
Like most other areas of the economy, the cellular handset business felt the pinch of the global downturn in the fourth quarter.
But high-end smartphones continued to sell at a respectable pace, and in North American in particular.
A ful 20% of phones sold in North America in the fourth quarter were smartphones
Around the world, smartphone sales rose 3.7 percent in the final quarter of 2008, making up 12 percent of all mobile handsets sold, Gartner reported this week.
North America is at the front of this trend toward more fully featured Internet-enable phones, such as Apple’s iPhone and the latest Blackberrys from Research in Motion.
A full 20 percent of phone sales in the region were smartphones, a big increase from last year, says Gartner. For all of 2008, growth was 68 percent.
Smartphone sales in Asia/Pacific rose just 2.3 percent, while in Europe, the Middle East and Africa sales were up just 2 percent. In Western Europe, smartphone sales increased 9.6 percent.
Interesting shift in the mobile landscape.
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Posted by Mark Boslet
The United States remains the primary destination for investments from domestic venture firms.
But 2008 saw these partners and general partners continue to place more money overseas as the industry follows the general economy and globalizes.
China investments were up 50% last year
According to Dow Jones VentureSource, U.S. VCs increased their investing overseas by 5 percent last year, putting more than $13.4 billion to work in deals in Europe, Israel, China and India.
That represented about 32 percent of the money they spent. (Domestic startups got $28.8 billion, VentureSource says.)
The growth was particularly strong in energy investing, which accounted for more than 10 percent of overseas dollars. In Europe, for instance, energy startups attracted 89 percent more money than in 2007, or $816 million.
In China, VCs set a record by investing $4.2 billion last year, up 50 percent. Information technology startups got a significant share –$1.6 billion.
Investment growth was slower in India, where $864 million went into 80 deals, a 3 percent increase.
Leave a Comment » | news, startups, venture capital | Tagged: 2008 Investing, China, Dow Jones VentureSource, Europe, Globalization, India, Israel, startups, venture capital | Permalink
Posted by Mark Boslet
Ok. So its Christmas and we’re all thinking more about the holidays than the office.
Google Earth has ski reports
In keeping with the holiday spirit, I spied a new Google feature that lets you know which European ski resort has the best snow. So far it is limited to the Alps regions of Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Italy. At least that’s a start.
The pop-up is available in the Gallery folder under Travel and Tourism of Google Earth.
The information comes from bergfex, which aggregates data from the resorts themselves.
Let’s hope Colorado and Utah are next.
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Posted by Mark Boslet
Coming to a notebook near you and now Italy
Italian wireless Internet service provider Aria kicked off plans this week to build what could be one of Europe’s largest WiMax networks.
The network, with equipment supplied by Alcatel-Lucent, will first spans two regions on Italy’s east coast, incorporating an unusual mix of urban and rural communities. WiMax has typically been used in less populated settings where the cost of stringing wires to buildings is higher, but has also begun to take root in cities, such as Baltimore.
Aria said its strategy is to bring broadband quickly across Italy. It will start by deploying service in Puglia in southern Italy and Veneto, which includes Venice. Both regions border the Adriatic Sea.
No pricing was available.
Leave a Comment » | news, wireless | Tagged: Alcatel-Lucent, Aria, Europe, Intel, WiMax, Wireless Network | Permalink
Posted by Mark Boslet
