SPEAKER PROFILES

CONFERENCE

Peter Ainsworth

In 1981 he joined stockbrokers Laing & Cruickshank and in 1986 SG Warburg Securities where he became a director of Corporate Finance in 1989. From 1986 to 1994 he was a councillor in the London Borough of Wandsworth, serving as Chairman of the Conservative Group 1990-1992. He was elected Member of Parliament for East Surrey in April 1992, May 1997 and again in June 2001. He was a member of the Select Committee on the Environment 1993-4; has been a member of the Public Service Committee and was joint Secretary of the All Party Conservation Group. From June 1998 until September 2001 he was Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Following Iain Duncan Smith's election as Leader of the Conservative Party he was promoted to Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from which he stepped down in June 2002. In January 2003 he was appointed to the Environmental Audit Committee and in July 2003 he was appointed Chairman. Peter returned to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in 2005 under David Cameron, and stepped down in January 2009.

Peter Ainsworth is a Director of Plantlife International which works to preserve wild plants in their natural habitat and a Vice President of Wildlife and Countryside Link which brings together environmental voluntary organisations in the UK to develop and promote policies. In Parliament, Peter is Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Groups for the Environment and Sustainable Aviation. In 2005, in recognition of his work on the environment, Peter Ainsworth was awarded the Public Affairs News 'Politician of the Year' award. In November 2009 he was named 'Environmental Parliamentarian of the Year' by the Chartered Institution of Environmental and Water Management.

David Armfield - PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Corporate Finance Partner

David is a Corporate Finance partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and a co-head of the firm's Renewable Energy business. He also leads the Industrial Products' team in Corporate Finance.
Having originally qualified as a lawyer, David joined PwC in 2000 following 12 years with Lehman Brothers as an M&A practitioner where he led Lehman's European Industrial Group.
He has been involved in numerous public and private company transactions and fund-raising across the Industrial Products spectrum. Within the Renewables sector he has worked on several Offshore Wind, Biomass, EfW and Micro-generation transactions. David's client relationships span large industrial engineering companies focussed on Renewable Energy, Utilities and Private Equity / Specialist Cleantech Funds.

Alex Betts - Climate Change Capital, Partner Clean Tech Private Equity Fund

Prior to joining Climate Change Capital, Alex was Head of Royal Dutch Shell's corporate venture capital unit, a senior investment officer and a member of the investment committee of Antfactory and a partner of Montagu Private Equity. He has over fifteen years of private equity investment experience in a range of buy-out, expansion and venture capital transactions and has also worked within the mezzanine and senior debt investment teams at HSBC Investment Bank. Alex has a BA in Classics from Oxford University.

Climate Change Capital is an investment manager and advisor specialising in the opportunities generated by the global transition to the low carbon economy. It advises and invests in companies that recognise combating global warming is both a necessity and an economic opportunity. With over US $1.5 billion under management as of October 2009, Climate Change Capital aims to provide attractive returns to investors, demonstrating the financial opportunity associated with the low carbon economy.

Rob Carroll - Catapult Venture Managers, MD

Rob joined Catapult in October 1999. He was previously with 3i plc in Leicester and London. He is an honours graduate in Pharmacy from Kings College London and a registered Pharmacist. He also has an MBA from Bradford University Management School. Rob focuses on origination activities, investor relations as well as investments. He has a specific interest in the healthcare and environmental areas. He is a member of the BVCA Ventures Committee and a Non Executive Director of Charles Lawrence Group PLC in Newark.

Catapult specialises in providing Equity Capital for businesses requiring between £200k and £2m. Catapult provides a full range funding requirement from early stage, development capital to MBO/MBIs. Since 1999 we have invested in over 65 companies, providing initial and further follow on requirements. Our experienced team of 9 Executives and 2 Non Executive Directors have over 100 years of VC experience between them.

Chris Etherington - Close Asset Finance

Close Asset Finance Limited was founded in 1987 by a team of finance professionals with expertise in a number of specialist industries. The team has grown over the years as more corporate finance specialists have been recruited but Close Asset has adhered firmly to the principle that we will only act for customers whose business we fully understand and for whom we can provide a practical and prudent service. Because of our specialist knowledge and experience we have become renowned for prompt decisions that allow our customers to get on with their business. We don't just provide "off the peg" finance packages. Many problems require "Tailor-Made" solutions and we therefore continue to refine our key relationships to meet the needs of customers and suppliers alike.

In addition to our operational capabilities Close Asset Finance Ltd is also proud of its financial pedigree as a member of the Close Brothers Group. Close Brothers is an independent merchant-banking group listed on the London Stock Exchange. Founded in the City of London in 1878, Close Brothers is amongst the 200 largest companies by market capitalisation listed on the London Stock Exchange. Close Brothers' strategy is to provide a diverse range of specialist services where it offers added value to its clients as a result of its particular expertise. Close Brothers is dedicated to developing continuity in its relationships with clients through excellent service, quality advice and uncompromising professionalism

We provide funding through Tailor-made, structured and individually underwritten Hire Purchase and leasing packages, we are able to consider both new and established businesses taking into account all aspects of a companies history and future. Close Asset Finance is still actively lending and growing.

Chris Etherington has over 15 years experience of specialist asset finance, with a specialist understanding and knowledge of the recycling and growing cleantech sector.

Richard Exley - North Star Equity Investors, Head of Proof of Concept Fund

Richard graduated from Cambridge with a BA in Natural Sciences, and has a D.Phil. from Oxford. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago and the Planetary Sciences Research Institute, following which he joined VG Instruments. More recently, he spent six years at the University of Sheffield as Intellectual Property Manager, developing a broad patent portfolio that underpinned many of the University's successful spin-outs. In 2001 he joined a leading venture management company as its Technology Transfer Manager for the northern region, working on deal flow, investment appraisal, and business development.

NorthStar Equity's professional venture capital team backs entrepreneurs in high potential, innovation-based companies throughout the North East of England. Committed to the highest standards of professionalism, NorthStar's investment managers are FSA regulated and are passionate about providing value-added specialist venture capability.

Steven Fawkes - Matrix Corporate Capital, Head of New Energy & Power Research

Steven is a Chartered Engineer and PhD with over 25 years experience in energy management.

Steven's PhD was about the potential for energy efficiency in British industry and he spent much of his working life implementing that potential by developing energy management programmes for many large organisations and advising governments on energy efficiency policy and programmes. He also co-founded two successful energy services companies, one in Romania and the other in the UK which was a subsidiary of RWE, a low-energy house developer and his own consultancy. Steven has been published extensively on energy matters with over 100 publications including a book called "Outsourcing Energy Management". In March 2007 Steven joined Matrix Corporate Capital where he analyses companies in the new energy and cleantech space.

Matrix Corporate Capital is the investment banking business of Matrix Group, authorised and regulated by the FSA and a member of the London Stock Exchange. It is a nominated broker and nominated adviser to AIM and a corporate adviser to the PLUS market. MCC's services include listing companies on AIM, primary and secondary fundraisings, mergers and acquisitions, broking, research and general corporate advice. The group has particular expertise in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Tony Gordon - Vertical Wind Energy, CEO

Tony was a founder director of Vertical Wind Energy Ltd, following his earlier success as a founder director of Renewables Ireland Ltd (RIL). Established in 2003, RIL has now become one of the leading companies in its sector. It offers an advisory service, sales, installation and training for all renewable products within the British Isles. In 2007, the company was a finalist in the HSBC ‘Start up Stars' awards. Tony was also a founder director of Building Products Distributors Ltd. Prior to this, Tony was Managing Director for Williams Lea (Ireland) Ltd, where he took sales from £0.25m to over £4m in 3 years. He was responsible for 25 staff and firmly established the Williams Lea brand in Ireland. Earlier, he was Client Services Director for Williams Lea, based in London with Global assignments in Hong Kong and New York. Prior to his commercial career, Tony was a Captain in the Army Air Corps. He was educated at Oxford Polytechnic (BSc), Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and Wellington College.

The Vertical Wind Energy Team work together to manufacture, supply and install vertical axis wind turbines to our patented design. Our turbines have fewer moving parts than horizontal axis turbines meaning that Vertical Wind Energy turbines are quiet, intrinsically more robust, less expensive and will deliver excellent annual electricity yields, subject to siting. If you have a site with good wind and open access, we will work with you through site survey; planning approval; installation and commissioning in a professional and friendly manner - with advice on how to take advantage of Feed in Tariffs and other financial incentives.

Alex Hook - NESTA, Investment Director

Alex joined NESTA in June 2008. He makes and manages investments in the Cleantech, Engineering

and Healthcare sectors. He started his career in the creative industries before joining Foursome Investments in 1999. During his time at Foursome, he was involved in multiple transactions, across a number of sectors and geographies, with a predominant focus on early-stage environmental technology businesses. He also managed Foursome's early-stage fund, the FourVision Fund LP. He has a Bachelor of Social Science in History and Social Science from the University of Birmingham.

NESTA is the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts and is the largest single endowment in the UK exclusively devoted to innovation. It is the UK's leading independent expert on innovation. Through a blend of practical programmes, investment in early-stage companies and research we test and demonstrate ingenious ways to tackle some of the country's biggest social and economic challenges. We work with public, private and third sector partners - bringing together powerful combinations of people, resources and bright ideas.

Guus Keder - Axiom Venture Capital, Co-Founder

Guus has worked in Private Equity since 1987. In 2002, he co-founded Axiom Venture Capital with a focus on next generation renewable energy technologies. He joined Alta Berkeley Venture Partners in 1997 where he successfully invested in ICT and Internet related businesses and was notably involved with one of the largest ever venture backed trade-sales in Finland. He has facilitated many co-investments with other leading European venture capitalists. Prior to that he was a Founding Partner in a European M&A advisory firm. Before becoming an entrepreneur, he worked in international management positions for Bristol Myers, a US pharmaceutical company, and Hagemeyer, an international trading company. He has always been involved with high growth companies or business entities and has worked with entrepreneurs throughout his career. Guus holds a degree in Electrical Engineering and an MBA from INSEAD. In addition to being the Managing Partner at Axiom Venture Capital he currently serves on the Board of a number of high-growth companies. He coordinates Insead's Sustainability Roundtable in Brussels. Guus' professional interests include business strategy, the application of science in helping to solve the world's problems and the issues related to the world's sustainable development.

Axiom Venture Capital is an investor focusing on next generation energy related technologies. We believe that science can help develop energy solutions for the next millennia. Axiom's principals are entrepreneurs and investors with proven track records in financing and developing high-growth technology companies. Axiom works closely together with entrepreneurs and scientists to create companies and solutions with long term and global values.

David Kidney - MP, Under-Secretary of State for DECC

Following a 20 year career as a solicitor, David was elected as a Labour MP for Stafford in 1997. After a number of different posts, he became PPS to Elliot Morley, Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in November 2005, and in 2006 PPS to David Miliband, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. His responsibilities now include Fuel Poverty Strategy, including delivery and oversight of Warm Front programme; Promoting interests of energy consumers; Coal liabilities including coal health payments; Emergency preparedness in power sector; Energy innovation and emerging technologies; Skills in energy and low carbon sector.

Mark Lawson-Statham - Intelligent Energy, Corporate Finance Director

Mark is a former Director of Close Brothers Corporate Finance Limited and Managing Director of Close Brothers International. He is also a former Director of Robert Fleming International Limited and JP Morgan Asset Management (UK) Limited. He was Head of Research at Robert Fleming Asset Management and managed the S&P Energy Industries and Fleming Natural Resources funds. Subsequent to that he managed the Robert Fleming Group Business in the Middle East from its headquarters in Bahrain. He has a degree in Chemistry and a PhD in Neutron Scattering from Oxford University.

Intelligent Energy is a clean power systems company with globally scalable business. With its proprietary fuel cell and hydrogen generation technology platforms, it has the building blocks to create bespoke power systems for OEMs and their global mass markets. Intelligent Energy Holdings Plc is privately owned and currently employs approx. 140 people at its headquarters in Loughborough in the UK and in Long Beach in the US. The company has a London office and representation in Japan.

Alex McCracken - TTP Venture Managers

Alex has been involved in investing over £40m in technology start-up businesses and, since joining TTP Ventures, he has focused on cleantech, electronics and software related businesses. Prior to TTP Ventures, he founded his own venture capital-backed business, which developed electronic security systems for the transport industry. Alex made a successful exit from this business in 2007. He also has a background in strategy consultancy, with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Roland Berger. He has a MA in Economics from the University of Cambridge and completed the year long Postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies (also at Cambridge).

TTP Ventures provides seed and venture capital financing for IT and clean technology companies based in the UK. We are currently managing a £34m fund and are now raising a £30m Enterprise Capital Fund. We are part of TTP Group, Europe's leading technology development and licensing company, which gives us access to the wide range of experience and contacts of TTP's engineers and scientists. This helps us to contribute a high degree of added value to the businesses we invest in. Our work with the Carbon Trust Incubator gives us great insight into the UK cleantech space. The incubator is funded by the Carbon Trust and provides services to accelerate the development of early-stage businesses in the low carbon sector. TTP Ventures supplies commercial and financial skills alongside the scientific, engineering and market research capabilities of TTP Group.

David Mott - Oxford Capital Partners, Investment Director

David co-founded Oxford Capital in 1999 and is responsible for leading investments and portfolio management and is a member of the Investment Committee. He is focused on investments in software, security, materials and environmental technologies. He previously worked with Result Ventures where he specialised in supporting technology companies on international expansion. Prior to this he worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers in corporate finance. His early career was as an equity analyst with Jardine Fleming in Asia and later with Deloitte and Touche in London where he trained as an accountant.

Oxford Capital Partners is a specialist investment manager, managing growth capital, small buyout capital, special situations and venture capital funds on behalf of institutional and private investors. We focus on the international potential of innovative science and our expertise lies in accelerating businesses with potential for unusual success in high growth in global markets.

Frederik W Mowinckel - Bergensis Capital Group

After 8 years in Asia running his own trading and consulting companies, Frederik invested in several small and medium international industrial companies in his native Norway in 1996. After meeting the well known Clean Technology headhunter Michael Naylor on a flight to Chicago, he sold all his business interests (and his Range Rover) and entered the sustainable investment arena in 2004. Frederik built up the European activities for Solar Integrated Technologies before investing in the leading marine energy company Aquamarine Power and other green companies from 2007. Through the Bergensis Capital Group, Frederik is currently an active investor and non-executive board member in early stage and turn around companies on behalf of his own and other family offices in Norway. Frederik is a keen environmentalist and lives in a Victorian Eco-House in Chelsea.

Bergensis Capital Group is a holding structure for all investments for the Mowinckel family offices as well as the consulting activities for other selected family offices in Norway. Bergensis will invest ‘smart and valuable money' in early stage and turn around companies in the clean technology sector. In addition to equity, Bergensis will provide assistance on further fund raising, corporate communication as well as tactical and strategic planning. In most cases a board seat is agreed with the initial investment in order to oversee the implementation of the agreed business plan. Current investments include: Aquamarine Power, Gas Turbine Efficiency, Controlled Power Technologies, Canopy Capital, Hunton Fiber and Th!nk.

Claus-Georg Mueller - MIC AG, CEO

After gaining a Master's Degree in electrical engineering at the Technical University of Applied Sciences in Rüsselsheim, Claus began his career at Motorola Semiconductor in 1987. In 1990 he joined AMS Electronic GmbH and managed the fibre optics business which was spun off to become AMS OptoTech in 1992. Claus established a profit centre for commercialization of fibre grating technology, which later became AIFOtec AG. In 1994, he founded ADVA, and in 1999 led the company through one of the most successful IPOs on the new market. He left the operational board of ADVA in 2000 to become the CEO of AIFOtec AG, which was sold to Finisar Inc in 2002. In July 2002, he created AIFOTEC GmbH, as a management buyout, from Finisar Europe GmbH. He founded MIC GmbH in 2001 and is currently responsible for all aspects of the business including strategic direction and investor relations.

As one of the few true Early-Stage Investors in Germany, MIC is best positioned to create value by exploiting future technical ideas. We provide start-up companies, which possess promising ideas, with seed capital, management expertise, know-how and a vast, established, international network. The experienced MIC team assists these companies with an infrastructure which reduces the burden in product development at initial stage and converts projects into successful products to the market. Simultaneously, we look for other investors to form strategic relationships which ensure long-term growth and success.

Ali Naini - Turquoise International, MD

Ali collected a BSc in Economics and an MSc in Information Systems from London School of

economics before embarking on a financial career which took him from a role in project finance and privatisation at PWC during 1988-98, to project finance at Robert Fleming and corporate finance at Close Bros, where he left in 2002 to create Turquoise Associates.

Turquoise International, the corporate finance arm of Turquoise Associates which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, provides fundraising, corporate transactions, investments & asset management, corporate structuring and business development services to the energy and environmental technology sectors.

Rachael Nutter - CT Investment Partners LLP, Investment Manager

Rachael is an Investment Manager at CT Investment Partners LLP, the advisor to Carbon Trust Investments, focused on early stage clean energy investments. Prior to joining the investments team Rachael managed the Carbon Trust Business Incubator, helping early-stage companies preparing to raise venture funding. Rachael started her career as a petroleum engineer with Shell International after reading engineering then manufacturing at Cambridge University. She then spent several years as a management consultant in the energy and other sectors before joining the Carbon Trust.

CT Investment Partners LLP ("CTIP") is an FSA Authorised Venture Capital and Fund Management Company that advises the Carbon Trust on its venture capital activities. It is one of the main UK Clean Energy technology investors having made 18 venture and seed investments over the last 6 years. CTIP current advises on around £50M of funds under management.

Patrick Sheehan - Environmental Technologies Fund

Patrick is a founding partner of ETF. He has 23 years' prior experience of Venture Capital with 3i, investing in the UK, mainland Europe, the USA and Israel. During this time he gained a reputation as a thought leader and innovator, investing in a wide range of technology companies across a variety of sectors. He was, for example, the founding MD of Silicon Valley operation and for many years was on the management committee of venture capital operation. He started his career as a research engineer at GEC and as a technical consultant for Marconi Space Systems. He is the current Chairman of the European Venture Capital Association's Venture Capital Committee, and is a member of the EVCA executive committee. He has a PhD in electronic engineering and a First Class Honours degree in electronic & electrical engineering from UCL.

ETF is a London-based £110m venture capital fund focused exclusively on Cleantech. It invests on a Pan-European basis with emphasis on the UK, the Nordic Countries, Benelux and Switzerland. It is backed by leading European institutional investors such as Swiss Re and the European Investment Fund. It was created to provide entrepreneurs with a top-quality venture capital group in Europe dedicated solely to Cleantech. We passionately believe there is a need, and an even greater opportunity, for the right technologies to deliver environmental benefits and create profitable businesses. Our team is made up of passionate individuals with more than 80 years of international Venture Capital experience and unrivalled experience of working with environmental companies. Collectively we have worked with over 100 companies, working across Europe, Israel and Silicon Valley and in the process have built up an enviable network of contacts for our entrepreneurs.

Nigel Taunt - Impax Asset Management

Nigel joined Impax in 2001 and has extensive experience in M&A and fund raising since qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1977. After seven years at BOC he was Finance Director for Christie Group. Between 1992 and 1998 he was Finance Director of Yorkshire Environmental, owned by Kelda Group plc, where he played a leading role in the ten-fold growth of that business to £100 million turnover. There he managed a large number of acquisitions and divestments in waste management, water treatment, renewable energy and environmental laboratories. His responsibilities at Kelda also included directorships at Yorkshire Windpower, during the successful development of the Royd Moor and Ovenden Moor wind farms, Esmil Water Treatment and Babcock Water Engineering.

Impax Asset Management Group Plc is the parent company of Impax Asset Management Ltd, a leading investment manager dedicated to the environmental and cleantech sectors, with a focus on alternative energy, water and waste. This sector offers some of the most compelling investment opportunities of the 21st century as the world responds to the problems caused by environmental degredation, resource scarcity and climate change.

Nick Taylor - Envestors

After qualifying with Price Waterhouse, Nick worked with private and public companies in the retail and manufacturing sectors. Most recently he was co-founder of the Sportscard Credit Card Company, which was listed on AIM and later sold to on-line bookmaker UK Betting Plc. He is also co-founder and director of an established private restaurant group and has investments in five other ventures.

Envestors has a network of 400+ business angels looking to invest between £20k to £2m in high growth companies. From the 60 - 100 business plans we receive per month, we screen out the best opportunities in the market for our registered investors. We specialise in helping young dynamic companies raise the funding they require from either business angels or early stage funds. Over the past three years, we have helped more than 60 companies raise in excess of £22m.

Mark Thompson - Religare Hichens Harrison & Tiptree Investments

Mark is currently the Global Head of Environmental Technology research at the investment bank Religare Hichens Harrison, and a director of early stage venture capital at Tiptree Investments. Prior to this, Mark was the director of equity research for clean tech companies at Canaccord Adams in London and the portfolio manager for the ISIS Ecotec global environmental technology fund. In 1997 Mark began his finance career with one of the sector's pioneers, Impax Group, and helped finance renewable energy and water technology companies across Europe and the US. He is a member of the FTSE Environmental Markets Committee, which approves and monitors companies going into all the FTSE environmental indices.

Religare Hichens, Harrison plc. (RHH) is a part of Religare Enterprises Limited (REL) - a leading integrated financial services group out of India. Hichens, Harrison & Co. plc. (HH), established in 1803, is London's oldest international, independent Brokerage and Investment firm. RHH is an authorised and regulated broker for companies traded on the AIM Market, a PLUS Markets member broker-dealer, a PLUS Markets member corporate adviser and a member of the Dubai International Financial Exchange. Currently, the principal areas of activity for RHH are - private client stock broking, institutional broking and sales, corporate broking, corporate finance and contracts for difference.

Tom Thorp - Foresight Ventures

Tom Thorp joined the Environmental Investment team at Foresight in November 2008 having spent over 5 years within KPMG's Transaction Services and Restructuring practices qualifying as a Chartered Accountant. Tom is involved in new environmental deal origination at Foresight as well as assisting in managing a number of the existing portfolio including Closed Loop Recycling (plastics recycling), Land Energy (wood pellet production) and OGen UK (waste wood gasification).

Foresight Group is an alternative asset manager with a strong 25 year track record and specific expertise in environmental infrastructure, solar energy and private equity, with £200 million under management. The group has over 200 years of collective investment experience and offers entrepreneurial managers capital and hands-on expertise to create long-term value and generate higher returns for shareholders. Foresight offers private, high net-worth and institutional investors access to a number of investment opportunities and a complete management service

Michael Weaver - Beer & Partners, Chief executive

As a qualified accountant with over 25 years experience at Board level in a range of sectors, Mike has worked around the globe advising international PLCs on their business finance, growth and operational strategies. He then went on to become a specialist in venture capital in the 1990s and began to focus on early stage companies, advising entrepreneurs on business plans, business finance and starting a business. He joined Beer & Partners in 2004 as an Associate in the Thames Valley Region. He quickly became one of the firm's top performers, combining his knowledge of capital investment with Beer's investor database and successfully arranging funding for business opportunities, and became Chief Executive in 2007.

Beer & Partners is the leading source of Venture Capital and Business Angel Investment for growing SME businesses in the UK. Their contacts with Business Angels, High Net Worth private investors and secured lenders are second to none. They understand that growing businesses need not only finance but also help if they are to reach their potential and they need this without fuss, with maximum discretion and at a reasonable cost.

Andrew Webster - Noble Venture Finance, Investment Director

Andrew has been involved in the finance sector for over 25 years. He started his career at Kleinwort Benson before moving to establish ING's mid market asset finance business in the UK. After leaving ING, he acted as a consultant for a renewable energy business to arranging finance for development projects. Andrew joined the Noble Venture Finance team as Investment Director in 2007 and has been responsible for making several investments across the technology spectrum as Noble Venture Finance has expanded its activities across Europe.

Noble Venture Finance (NVF) is focused exclusively on providing medium term loan finance to fast growing privately held venture capital backed companies throughout Europe. The first NVF fund was launched in 2003. The second NVF fund (£100m) had its first close in September 2007 and its final close in April 2008. NVF provides finance for working capital needs by secured loan, thereby preserving expensive equity capital for building the business, development work, staff recruitment and marketing. NVF typically provides facilities from €1m to €5m and can syndicate larger amounts though its extensive connections. NVF is able to provide facilities in Sterling, Euros, Swiss Francs or US dollars over repayment periods up to 36 months. To date NVF has invested more than €120m in some 90 transactions with 43 companies in 10 European countries; NVF has worked with more than 40 venture capital firms across Europe. http://www.nobleventurefinance.com/

WORKSHOPS

Derek Allen - Technology Strategy Board, Lead Technologist, Energy Generation and Supply

Derek has over 25 years' industrial experience in the power generation and energy sector working with companies including General Electric, ABB and Alstom Power. He qualified with a BSc and PhD in Metallurgy and his positions in industry have included management of materials departments, large scale engine test facilities, instrumentation and control departments and most recently technology strategy management with Alstom Power. He joined the Technology Strategy Board in July 2007 on secondment from Alstom to lead the Energy Generation & Supply application area, focussing on developing and delivering a strategy for UK innovation in this area. He is actively engaged in a number of UK and European Energy Committees, including the UK Marine Action Plan Committee, the Renewables Advisory Board, Advanced Power Generation Technology Forum and the European Technology Platforms in Zero Emissions and Advanced Engineering Materials.

Noel Botha – Orion Innovations

Prior to joining Orion Innovations, Noel spent three years in a Senior Management role in a new energy technology company. He was responsible for business development and corporate management activities and played a key role in building this business. He previously held senior positions in leading international consulting firms, A.T. Kearney, KPMG and Chem Systems. As a consultant, he served blue chip companies in the process industries and utilities sectors and earned a reputation for successfully securing and delivering large-scale and complex programs of work. He has worked in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and North America, managing sizeable teams on a broad range of projects. These have included the planning and delivery of multi-million dollar mergers, fundamental reengineering and reorganization of global organisations, business-turnaround, organisation change management and large-scale project management and recovery. He worked as a project engineer within the chemicals sector before entering into management consulting.

Orion Innovations is a specialist business consultancy that provides strategic and operational support to businesses and public sector organisations, primarily in the low carbon sector. Specifically the company works with organisations to address the strategic challenges and to realise the opportunities associated with the transition to a low carbon economy. We have in depth knowledge of the cleantech, energy, environment, nanotechnology, electronics and process industry sectors. We work with public sector organisations at international, national and regionals level to assist in the identification and development of programmes in support of innovation and economic development in these sectors.

Neil Davidson - Aquamarine Power, Public Affairs Manager - presenting with EPSRC

Neil Davidson joined Aquamarine Power as Public Affairs Manager in May 2009. His role is to make sure marine renewable energy remains high on the political agenda in the UK, Scotland and Europe and to ensure that legislation and public support mechanisms are closely aligned with what this young industry needs. This is achieved through participation with industry bodies in all jurisdictions and through liaison with politicians, civil servants and involvement in the UK Government's Marine Action Plan and the Scottish Government's Marine Energy Group. The company also maintains a high media profile to ensure wave energy is recognised by all as an exciting and viable new technology which can make a significant contribution to 2020 carbon reduction targets. The company's goal is to make marine renewable energy mainstream. Prior to joining Aquamarine Power Neil has undertaken a number of senior PR and public affairs roles, most recently within the public sector division of BT Global Services. Neil trained as a journalist with DC Thomson and Co Ltd in Dundee, working at both The Courier and The Sunday Post newspapers. This was followed by PR and public affairs positions at Scottish Natural Heritage and The Crown Estate, where he steered this UK institution through the passage of the Scotland Bill. His role at Aquamarine Power is to Neil has also worked as a freelance writer and radio reporter for the BBC, and spent over two years in Chilean Patagonia as Country Director for youth development.

Stephen Elsby - EPSRC, Senior Sector Manager

EPSRC is the main UK government agency for funding research and training in engineering and the physical sciences, investing more than £800 million a year in a broad range of subjects - from mathematics to materials science, and from information technology to structural engineering. The UK academic sector is well placed to deliver innovation across Rushlights areas of interest and this is reflected in EPSRCs £3.7 Billion portfolio of grants and awards. Stakeholder engagement is key to ensuring the relevance of this portfolio and to provide routes to exploitation for the benefit of the UK. Stephen works within the energy programme as a senior sector

EPSRC is the main UK government agency for funding research and training in engineering and the physical sciences, investing around £2.4 billion during the period 2008-2011. This investment is in a broad range of subjects relating to a wide number of applications, including aerospace, construction and utilities, defence, electronics, chemicals and pharmaceuticals and energy and power. Improving the level of interactions between business and the research base and increasing the uptake and exploitation of our investments is very important to us. Our vision is for the UK to be as renowned for knowledge transfer and innovation as it is for research discovery. We're working with universities, businesses, charities and a range of Government departments and public sector organisations on joint initiatives and activities, to understand their needs and challenges and use this information in identifying our strategic priorities and investment plans. EPSRC funds a huge range of research projects that are relevant to many different organisations - some 40% of our research and training portfolio includes collaborations with external organisations. Your organisation can get involved through a number of different routes, including some managed by other organisations such as the Technology Strategy Board and the Energy Technologies Institute.

Robert Gevargiz - ADIAN Consulting, Director

A long standing practitioner in the field of energy efficiency, Robert has worked both as a corporate energy manager and, over the past ten years, as a consultant advising and supporting corporate sector clients. He joined the National Health Service in 1988 and set up the energy management department for the Islington & District Health Authority in London overseeing the introduction of energy management to Acute Hospital, Clinics, Surgeries etc. He then joined the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to set up the organisation's first energy efficiency department at its London headquarters near Covent Garden. The role involved introducing energy efficiency to some 250 sites in the UK ranging from corporate offices to radar stations and complex air traffic control centres. In 2000, he left the CAA and co-founded ADIAN Consulting Limited becoming its director and chief consultant. He has a Masters Degree in Applied Energy and an MBA from Cranfield University and School of Management, respectively. He is a long time member of the Energy Institute, a chartered engineer and a CIBSE accredited low carbon energy assessor for Complex Air Conditioning Systems and Display Energy Certificates. He is also a Carbon Trust panel consultant for complex solution development projects and is a member of the Carbon Trust consultant representative group.

ADIAN Consulting Limited is an independent energy and sustainability practice established since April 2000. With a team of highly experienced consultants, our practice is equipped to help existing and prospective clients adapt their business philosophy and operations to a low carbon strategy. Our experienced Low Carbon and Energy Consultants have worked with management teams in many sectors. The sectors we have particular experience in are education, property, charities, leisure, commerce, health, local government and manufacturing. We have helped to identify and develop sustainable low carbon strategies to improve reputation, reduce operating costs, decrease CO₂ emissions and mitigate legislative risk.

Andrew Haslett - Energy Technologies Institute, Strategy Director

Andrew Haslett joined the Energy Technologies Institute as Director of Strategy Development in April 2008 from ICI plc, where he was Group Science & Technology Director (Measurement & Modelling). He has been involved in process and product technology development for 30 years, leading a range of research and engineering groups. His experience covers a very wide range of technologies from large scale high hazard process plant engineering to developing electronic materials. He has experience of development, design and operation of large scale plant and also of technology licensing and the sale of technology based services. At ICI, he was responsible for the development of the Group Technology Strategy and for assisting businesses to measure and improve their application of technology to innovation. He graduated from Cambridge University with a BA in Chemical Engineering. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, of the Institution of Chemical Engineers and the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Scientist.

The Energy Technologies Institute is a UK based company formed from global industries and the UK government. We bring together projects that create affordable, reliable, clean energy for heat, power and transport. The ETI will demonstrate technologies, develop knowledge, skills and supply-chains, inform the development of regulation, standards and policy, and so accelerate the deployment of affordable, secure low-carbon energy systems from 2020 to 2050.

Justin Heath - Abchurch Communications, Head of Environment

Justin was an environmental geologist with Shell International before becoming a communications executive at Yorkshire Water, responsible for public-private waste, CHP, renewable energy and remediation projects. Since joining Abchurch, his external adviser roles have included Vivendi/Veolia, Waste Tyre Solutions, Energy Savings Trust, Uk Atomic Energy Authority, Transco, BP, ICI/Dupont and CantorCO2e.

Abchurch is the City PR firm of choice for businesses considering fund raising within the environmental space. Its complete communications service matches client's needs through each growth phase, offering access to funding for pre-revenue businesses, an information exchange and city adviser network, business to business and trade and technical PR programmes, pre-IPO city advice that eases the transition from private to public, IPO communications programmes and financial communications programmes for quoted companies.

Jillian Lilico - Supply London, PERA

Jillian is a Programme Manager at Pera and has programme management responsibility for Supply London. Prior to joining Pera, she worked for London Fire Brigade as the IT project manager for the Fleet Mobilising System and for London Borough of Tower Hamlets Social Services, project managing business systems such as electronic records, document management and social care management systems. The roles included procurement responsibilities which generated Jillian's interest in lowering the barriers to entry for SMEs since there seemed to be a knowledge and skills gap of the public procurement process.

Supply London is funded by the LDA and ERDF to help London Based SMEs to win contracts. Preparing businesses for the opportunities in the public sector is our main goal. Supply London has a 7 year history of supporting London SMEs to win contracts. We have a team of Supply Chain Advisers experienced in assisting with the tendering and pre-qualification process. We have designed a workshop programme aimed at ensuring businesses can respond credibly at every stage of the tender process. Last year, Supply London helped SMEs in London win over £20 million of new business. The Supply London programme is delivered by Pera.

Euston Ling - AEA Technology, Project Director / Knowledge Leader - Waste Modelling & Technologies

Euston Ling is a qualified Chemical Engineer with a degree in business and technologies. He is a chartered waste manager with 17 years of experience in the UK and international waste management and sustainable resource sector. Working as a waste management professional, he has been heavily involved in providing technical advice to local authorities throughout the UK, particularly in the area of procurement, alternative technology options, and numerical modelling. To this end, he has produced numerous business cases and carbon management reports, along with waste management blueprints for a several local and international projects. He is presently acting as the North London Waste Authority's Fuel Use Procurement Manager. In this role, he has responsibility for the development of procurement documentation, provision of ongoing technical advice relating Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) use, and engaging with potential fuel use bidders. Prior to working as a waste consultant, Euston worked for the major public sector waste management company in NSW - Waste Service NSW - and was responsible for assessing and implementing technical and business development opportunities. In this role, he had lead accountability for delivering waste sorting, processing, and disposal arrangements for the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

AEA is a leading consultancy, with operations in the UK, Europe and the US. We provide advisory services to the UK Government and work extensively with the EU and major private sector organisations around the world. Our multi-disciplinary team of over 1,000 technical and scientific consultants, project management experts, information technology professionals, and legal and regulatory specialists enable us to deliver fully integrated and business-oriented solutions for our customers. For more information please visit http://www.aeat.co.uk/

Diarmuid MacDougall - PWC, Partner, R&D Network Leader

Before becoming the R&D Network Leader, Diarmuid led PricewaterhouseCoopers' R&D Tax Relief Network for the Technology, Media and Telecommunications industries. He has worked with a wide range of clients from different industry sectors, including food & beverages, industrial products & engineering, automotive, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Among other things, Diarmuid has advised on claims covering design of waste into energy plants, land remediation, nuclear waste processing and combined heat and power development. He has worked with Intellect, the industry association for the IT, Telecommunications and Electronic industries, in raising the profile of the R&D incentives. He has provided representations on government consultation in respect of R&D incentives and is in regular contact with HMRC policy team.

Ken Milne - Isle of Man DTI, Senior Manager for Energy Policy

The Department of Trade and Industry has Government responsibility for Energy policy and economic development in the Isle of Man. In his role, Ken is encouraging growth and inward investment in the clean technology sector based on the Island. Ken took up his current senior role during 2009 and has previously worked in various senior management roles in biotechnology companies in the UK. He has a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Dundee, in Dundee, U.K and a MBA from the Open University, UK.

Dave Raval - Carbon Trust, Head of Business Incubation

The Carbon Trust is an independent company set up in 2001 by Government in response to the threat of climate change, to accelerate the move to a low carbon economy by working with organisations to reduce carbon emissions and develop commercial low carbon technologies. We cut carbon emissions now by providing business and the public sector with expert advice, finance and certification to help them reduce their carbon footprint and to stimulate demand for low carbon products and services. We cut future carbon emissions by developing new low carbon technologies. We do this through project funding and management, investment and collaboration and by identifying market barriers and practical ways to overcome them. Our work on commercialising new technologies will save over 20 million tonnes of carbon a year by 2050.

Adam Read - AEA Technology, Practice Knowledge Leader - Waste Management & Resource Efficiency

Adam leads AEA's expansion in the core discipline areas of waste and resource efficiency, developing the company's technical offering and client facing programme delivery. He joined AEA in October 2008 after 8 years with 2 major environmental consultancies. He has also spent 2 years as a Recycling Officer at the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and 5 years as a research fellow at Kingston University. He specialises in waste management policy development, strategic decision-making, consultation, behaviour change, procurement and training - working essentially with local and regional government clients for over 15 years. He sits on the Editorial Board of a number of the leading academic journals and has spoken widely at waste management conferences. He was voted the 13^th most influential person in waste management according to an opinion poll in the journal Resource (January 2009) and was awarded a fellowship by the CIWM in 2008.

Craig Sillars - UK Trade & Investment, International Business Specialist Environment & Water

Formerly MD of a specialist technology led remediation contractor, Craig is now an independent consultant who represents the UK Trade and Investment Environment and Water Sectors Group as an International Business Specialist. His current focus is on writing Sub Sector Guides on 'Contaminated Land and Remediation' and 'Waste to Energy' that will be used to promote UK expertise in these target sectors. He also helps UK companies during Outward Trade Missions. As a consultant, he also works with clients on bid management for projects as diverse as acid mine drainage treatment, contaminated land in the planning system and waste to energy projects with a focus on air pollution control residue treatment and disposal.

UK Trade & Investment is the government organisation that helps UK-based companies succeed in the global economy and assists overseas companies to bring their high quality investment to the UK.

Olaf Swanzy - PNO Consultants, Team Leader Environment

Olaf has substantial experience across all forms of external funding at a regional, national and EU level. His specific area of expertise surrounds R&D funding on behalf of Universities, SME and Blue chip companies with a strong focus in the environmental technology sectors. Olaf is also a member of PNO's EU Core team and the UK's Leading Consultant in EU Funds with programmes ranging from FP6 & 7, LIFE Environment Programme, Public Health, EU Internal Market Promotions Programme and Intelligent Energy for Europe (IEE). Olaf has also been involved in the provision of grant related training to private companies and in 2009 alone he has secured in excess of £15 million of grant support for clients.

The PNO Group is Europe's leading grants consultancy firm employing in excess of 500 staff across Europe and with over 25 years of experience in applying for grants at a regional, national and EU level, PNO are the proven partner to assist companies in optimising available funding programmes. A principle focus of our activity is within the cleantech sector, in areas such as renewable technologies, green transportation and novel lighting techniques delivered by our clients which include start ups, established SME's, Blue chips and Universities.

Andy Thompson - Withers & Rogers, Associate

As a Birmingham University graduate in Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Andrew qualified as a European Patent Attorney in 2005, joined Withers & Rogers LLP in February 2006 and qualified as a Chartered Patent Attorney in 2007. Andrew has also spent some time working in-house at the patent department of one the UK's largest software companies. He worked on a wide range of electronics technologies from television systems to production line techniques. He has also worked extensively on a portfolio of patent applications relating to 3G telecommunications technology. Most recently, he has become one of the leading specialists in the firm on clean technologies.

Withers & Rogers LLP is one of the leading intellectual property law firms in the UK and Europe. We specialise in the protection and enforcement of IP rights, including patents for inventions, trade marks and design rights. With more than 50 experts with specialist experience in many industry sectors, we enjoy working closely with our clients so we can advise them on the best intellectual property strategy to meet their needs. Located at our offices in London, Leamington Spa, Bristol and Sheffield, our experts provide specific advice on all aspects of European and international intellectual property law.

Peter Webster - Utilyx Development Services, CEO

Peter is the CEO of Utilyx Development Services, a new venture created by the specialist energy and carbon advisor, Utilyx. As Director of the climate group in Utilyx, he has advised many UK and international companies on energy projects and procurement and sale of energy. Before joining Utilyx, he was MD of Cinergy Global Trading, the commercial arm of the international division of a major US utility. In this capacity, he supported the development of over 400MW of renewable projects in 5 countries, as well as more than 3,000MW of conventional fossil fuel generation stations. He joined Cinergy when the company took over Midlands Electricity, where he was MD of Midlands Gas. Prior to that, he was sales and marketing manager for Nuclear Electric and energy sales manager for Shell UK. His earlier career covered more than 20 years with Shell International, mainly overseas. During this time, he was head of energy management and the first MD of Shell Power Ltd.

Francis Wright - Turquoise International, Director

Francis co-founded Turquoise in 2002 and has extensive experience in corporate and project finance focusing on energy and the environment. Prior to Turquoise he worked at Close Brothers Corporate Finance, RBS Leveraged Finance and Merrill Lynch. He has experience in a wide range of sub-sectors including automotive efficiency, biofuels, biomass, CDM, fuel cells, geothermal, hydro, recycling, solar and wind. Through Turquoise Capital (Turquoise's principal investment arm) he was a founder director of two startups, Controlled Power Technologies (fuel efficient automotive components) and CH4NGE (Gold Standard CDM project development).