Increasing demands for energy, threats to global security and concerns about the environment are driving the need for clean technologies and products the world over. Global clean energy markets have been growing at a rate of 14 to 22 per cent a year. Many expect this rate to continue or even increase in the years ahead. Global markets are seeking price-competitive, technology-proven solutions for clean power generation, fuel production, waste management, green construction and a host of other applications. They’re looking for robust technologies, marketed by companies that have a proven capacity to deliver and finance major projects effectively. Enter Ottawa’s clean technology companies. Only a few years ago, the region’s clean technology companies focused their business development activities primarily in Ontario. Today, cluster companies are looking to do business across Canada, in the United States and around the world. A recent survey showed that more than a third of Ottawa-area clean technology firms are looking for opportunities to do business worldwide.

The wealth of talent in the region has helped give rise to the Ottawa Clean Technology Cluster featuring Canada’s largest concentration of clean energy researchers and companies, whose breakout technologies are providing competitive and environmentally responsible solutions in the areas of:

• renewable energy generation, energy infrastructure and energy efficiency
• water treatment, waste diversion, conversion and management, and
• remediation, green buildings and resource efficiency in built environments.

Ottawa’s clean technology companies have been getting a lot of attention lately. For example, in October 2007, Corporate Knights Magazine in association with the Cleantech Network, named six Ottawa-area firms in its list of The Next 10 Emerging Cleantech Leaders of Tomorrow. More recently, Sustainable Development Technologies Canada committed more than $35 million to technology innovations involving Ottawa’s clean technology firms.

The Ottawa Cleantech Initiative is the local organization that is committed to promoting and strengthening the clean technology industry in the Ottawa and Eastern Ontario region. The organization works to connect suppliers, companies, communities, universities, research institutions, funding bodies and policy makers along the path from innovation to commercialization. Their goal is to facilitate the development of new commercial relationships and opportunities in clean technology.

Company Case Studies and Testimonials – Ottawa Cleantech Industry:

• Ensyn Technologies Inc.
• Group IV Semiconductor Inc.
• Iogen Corporation
• Plasco Energy Group
• Thermal Energy International Inc.

Additional Resources

Cleantech Ecosystem of Eastern Ontario
This interactive map enables users to have a detailed visualization of the Cleantech Assets in the Eastern Ontario Region.