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Environmental Technology Network to Forge South East Growth
08 September 2006
The huge business opportunities opening up through tackling climate change and the drive for sustainability are the targets for EnviroBusiness, a new South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) supported membership organisation created to drive the growth of the growing numbers of companies providing environmental technologies and services.
EnviroBusiness will be launched by SEEDA's Chairman, James E Brathwaite CBE, on Friday, 15 th September 2006. "Environmental enterprise is key to achieving the central objective of the South East’s new Regional Economic Strategy; to achieve sustainable economic development and prosperity," says Mr Brathwaite. "We have a great base of innovative environmental companies to start from, and the creation of EnviroBusiness is designed to grow these and drive the sector as a whole. It is not just important for the UK, it will be a great global business as well."
The aim of EnviroBusiness is to grow the region's share of a global market, estimated at nearly $700 billion by 2010. EnviroBusiness' Chief Executive, Tom Fourcade, says: "The growth potential in this sector is vast; with a range of businesses from those creating new energy technologies, to delivering waste recycling services, or cleaning up pollution, through to those advising Governments on environmental issues.
"Comprising mainly of young businesses, it has been a very disparate sector up until now; by calling ourselves 'EnviroBusiness', we want to offer an identity to the sector and focus in a business like way on driving its growth. We offer businesses a new way of working together to promote themselves, and find and exploit new business opportunities in an increasingly competitive global market full of environmental challenge and opportunity."
A not-for-profit company, EnviroBusiness will help its members in the environmental technology and service sectors to open up new market opportunities worldwide. Its services include promoting the sector to buyers and investors, securing funding support for businesses (especially for R&D and innovation), opening up new markets and opportunities in the UK and abroad.
Tom Fourcade adds: "We will be announcing our first two major initiatives at the launch. The first is a new energy technology innovation network, ENERGISE, bringing together small energy businesses, universities and major energy companies to commercialise new technologies and associated business opportunities. This will help smaller businesses expand into parts of the market they often find so hard to crack. The second is a new grant stream for recycling businesses to invest in infrastructure in the South East. Both schemes show just the sort of benefits EnviroBusiness can bring to the environmental technology and services companies and others involved in the sector."
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