The first of three posts looking at the Foresight 50 by region.
At a time when climate concerns are at an all-time high in the province, it’s encouraging to see that 16 of Canada’s most investable cleantech ventures are based in British Columbia. The Foresight 50, announced on Nov. 23 by Foresight Canada, recognizes ventures from across Canada and a variety of sectors including watertech, carbon solutions, hydrogen, and renewable energy. They were selected after an open call for nominations based on criteria including investability, potential environmental and employment impact, and probability of success.
Vancouver is becoming well known as a cleantech cluster. It was recently recognized as a top 10 cleantech cluster worldwide. Several BC-based cleantech ventures have announced successful raises recently including HTEC and Svante.
The Foresight 50 shines a light on made-in-BC solutions across a number of sectors including:
- Carbon tech: Svante is a leader in carbon capture from industrial sources at less than half the capital cost of existing carbon removal solutions.
- Water tech: Innovators like CarboNet are creating solutions to accelerate water recycling. Open Ocean Robotics is providing a new understanding of our oceans with solar powered autonomous boats.
- Circular economy: Circular Rubber Technologies is transforming waste streams into value.
- Hydrogen: Ekona Power, HTEC, Hydra Energy, and Ionomr are creating market-driven hydrogen solutions.
- Built environment: GRT creates useful construction aggregates from unwanted excess soil and dredgeate. Properate uses AI to help homeowners and construction professionals build more energy efficient and high performance homes.
- Grid/power/utilities: Portable Electric is a pioneer in mobile electric generators. Awesense is accelerating the decarbonization of the energy grid.
- Waste management: RecycleSmart is creating smart waste solutions.
- Natural resources: Rotoliptic Technologies has developed high efficiency pumps for the oil and gas industry.
- Renewable energy: Solaires provides a new generation of solar panels.
- Agritech: Verdi is modernizing irrigation systems to help farmers customize water and nutrient delivery.
BC is a hotbed for world-class cleantech innovators and entrepreneurs, as this year’s Foresight 50 demonstrated. Foresight looks forward to supporting their continued success - and the next generation of cleantech ventures who follow in your footsteps.
