New Zealand has traditionally been famous for things like sheep, Hobbits and Flying Conchords. At least that's what people in the US will first mention after you tell them that you're not in fact from Australia.
In January a group of 12 amazing Kiwi businesses travelled to the US to try to add one more item to the list clean tech businesses that changed the world.
The itinerary included attending the Cleantech Forum in San Diego (Neocrete was named a Clean Tech Group "50 businesses to watch" in 2023), pitching to investors in San Francisco along with visits to Plug and Play, Stanford and Berkley.
This group which included businesses set to make a major impact in fields from aluminum smelters to zinc recycling - along with fusion and of course Neocrete's mission to re-engineer the world's building block.
Among many really cool aspects of this trip, what struck me most was how impressive all the other founders were, the scale of their ambition - and the concrete progress we've made to achieving these goals.
Our hope is that in ten years when you visit the US people will say "Ah a Kiwi! You guys solved that sustainability problem we used to have!"
[Below - Matt Kennedy-Good presenting at the CleanTech Forum in San Diego]
The trip was organsied by Callaghan Innovation and NZTE. Alongside Neocrete on the trip were:
Aspiring Materials: Carbon Capture
Creating materials to cut down global industrial CO2 emissions.
Bspkl: Hydrogen Innovation
Developing catalyst-coated membrane solutions to overcome catalyst supply challenges and manufacturing bottlenecks.
Cetogenix: Waste to Value
Delivering a climate tech platform that unlocks the hidden potential for organic waste-to-renewables value addition through proprietary deconstruction, separation and fermentation.
EnPot: Energy Efficiency
Technology to enable smelters to flex their power usage creating a virtual battery, supporting the adoption of renewable energy.
Geo40: Sustainable Mineral Recovery
Enabling critical minerals such as lithium and silica to be extracted from underground fluids at scale.
Hydroxsys: Water Treatment
Solving wastewater and sustainability challenges for food and industrial processors, using new membrane filtration technology.
Nilo: Waste to value
Transforming plastic waste into high-value industrial products, with a current focus on wood panel board adhesives and eco-concrete.
Openstar Technologies: Fusion Energy
On a mission to deliver clean, abundant, and available fusion energy to the world.
Sleaktek Biopolymer
Sleak™️ is a completely natural 100% plant derived hot melt compound used to make adhesives, sealants and plastic film substitutes.
Vortex Power Systems: Waste to value
Using low grade waste heat recovered from thermal processes in industry, Vortex Power Systems technology generates and controls a freestanding atmospheric buoyancy vortex, and harnesses its power using a vortex turbine to create clean electricity.
Zincovery: Waste to Value
Low temperature reactor technology to convert zinc ferrite compounds into any form so it can be recycled.
[Below - the Clean Tech cohort also visited Plug and Play (below), Stanford and Berkley]
