NREL growth forum: Denver gathering connects companies with investors.

• Author: Clucas, David
• Position: CLEANTECH - National Renewable Energy Laboratory - Conference notes

Some of the nation's top clean energy entrepreneurs will gather Oct. 19-21 in Denver to pitch their business concepts at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's 23rd Industry Growth Forum.

The event at the Denver Marriott City Center allows attending investors and corporations to get a sneak peek at the latest technologies in clean and renewable energy for possible future investments or acquisitions.

In the past seven years, about half of the 202 participating companies at the growth forum have gone on to raise a combined $3.4 billion since first presenting.

Playing matchmaker are NREL scientists, eager to spur advances in the field.

"We use the forum as a platform to build relationships between the companies and investors," said Marty Murphy, the forum's chairman and NREL's Commercialization and Technology Transfer Manager for Enterprise Development Programs. "A while back, we realized that a lot of good technology wasn't getting commercialized."

Murphy said the first growth forums began in the mid-1990s as small gatherings of about 25 people several times a year across the United States. Since 2002, the event has been annual, attracting more than 500 people in 2009.

Three years ago, NREL decided to keep the annual growth forum in Colorado, and state organizations such as the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association, the Governor's Energy Office and the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. have helped sponsor and organize the event.

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And while there are usually several finalists from Colorado's growing renewable energy industry--Boulder-based TerraLUX and Lafayette-based Evolutionary Genomics presented last year--the event focuses on fielding investors and companies nationwide.

More than 200 companies submitted applications at $250 apiece to NREL in the early summer for a chance at being one of this year's 30-plus forum presenters in October. Non-finalist applicants can still attend the event for an additional $100. Investors--which range from small venture capital firms to large corporations such as Honda and General Electric--spend up to $500 to attend. Corporate sponsors help fund and support the event with anywhere from $2,500 to $30,000 contributions.

NREL's Industry Growth Forum is one of the better respected by investors, partially because they are heavily involved in choosing which companies present. About 130 investors are on the selection committee, and investors lead the question-and-answer sessions...