FDI

Let us fight for the future

and reach our goals – together!

By Carsten Orth Gaarn-Larsen, CEO of CLEAN

IMAGE: Shutterstock

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Fighting climate change, reducing energy consumption and improving a circular economy is a challenging task. Nevertheless, it is a necessary task that we should all be aware of, private persons as well as big industries. With the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2015, we succeeded with a common vision

and responsibility for our planet. Now, we are responsible for realising the agreement and reaching the ambitious goals, which requires collaboration and innovation.

 

But how do we fight climate change? How do we keep the global temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, make people understand the importance of reducing energy consumption and reprocess our waste instead of incinerating it? In Denmark, we have a cleantech cluster that fights for the green transition – by being it. With more than 170 members, CLEAN is ensuring Denmark’s leading cleantech organizations the opportunity to build valuable partnerships and improve a sustainable business.

 

CLEAN – Denmark’s green cluster

 

CLEAN is a Danish cleantech cluster that addresses complex challenges within the green transition both nationally and internationally. For CLEAN, the green transition needs to be profitable, improve employment and ensure a healthier planet. Innovative solutions require a close collaboration between public actors, knowledge institutions and the private sector. At CLEAN, we connect people and organizations in partnerships. Our role is to facilitate and develop projects that ensure business for our members whilst contributing to a greener planet. By connecting our members, innovative and energy efficient solutions are being developed and implemented.

 

Denmark is a frontrunner in the cleantech industry,which the capital Copenhagen has embraced and is rated as one of the most liveable cities in the world. The City of Copenhagen wants to combine growth, sustainable development and quality of life with a reduction in CO2 emissions. The ambition is for Copenhagen to be the world’s first carbon neutral capital city by 2025. This ambitious goal requires a transition in energy supplies, waste management, mobility, etc. Therefore, Copenhagen is collaborating with knowledge institutions and companies to find new and innovative solutions. As a core member of CLEAN, the City of Copenhagen actively participates in projects and innovation platforms that enhance growth and employment within the cleantech industry.

 

Besides being a leading smart city capital, Eastern Denmark is also a part of Greater Copenhagen, which is a metropolitan region that spans Region Zealand, The Capital Region of Denmark - both core members of CLEAN - and Skåne in Southern Sweden. In close dialogue with business and other key players in Greater Copenhagen, the Collaboration launches strategic initiatives to generate economic growth and create jobs in Greater Copenhagen. Furthermore, the Collaboration has a strong contribution in making the City of Copenhagen the first CO2-neutral capital in the world.

 

 

IMAGE: Sandro Katalina

CityDataExchange

 

In May 2016, the world’s first data platform was launched in Copenhagen. The platform called

CityDataExchange was created on a basis of an innovative tender facilitated and implemented by the City of Copenhagen, the Capital Region of Denmark and CLEAN. Competing companies from Asia, USA and England participated in which the Japanese multinational technology company Hitachi won with their Big Data Platform. The aim of the innovative tender was to bring together leading global companies with Danish SMEs to create the smartest and best Big Data Marketplace, that makes it easy to explore, consume and publish public and private data.

 

“This is a great opportunity for Hitachi to co-create a solution with the city and companies. No city in the world has a similar market place for data and we believe that it will not only be a great success in Copenhagen – but can be replicated in one form or another in the rest of the world. The innovative tender invented and facilitated by CLEAN has opened many doors for us and subsequently we have opened door for users of the City Data Exchange”, says Peter Bjørn Larsen, CEO, CityDataExchange.

 

Invest in Danish green solutions

 

Cities around the world demand sustainable solutions to cope with overcrowding, torrential rain, car pollution and many other challenges. Utilities have a responsibility in improving energy efficiency and supply citizens with energy, water, etc. in a sustainable way.

 

Denmark is one of the leading suppliers of technologies within water, environment and energy. There is an increasing demand for green solutions from Denmark, especially integrated solutions, which has proved to solve worldwide challenges. To support the foreign demand, CLEAN has built a method to enhance export of Danish solutions and simplify the process of investing in Danish solutions. The method is called Clean Solutions and is valuable when foreign utilities and cities want to buy integrated Danish solutions. Clean Solutions helps deliver and implement integrated solutions including project development, partnerships and financing. Delivering a total solution requires a collaboration between local, international and Danish companies, which is often a time-consuming process. By using Clean Solutions, we simplify the process for all partners and enhance sustainable business.

 

CLEAN has several international projects, among them is the City Solutions Platform - a partnership between CLEAN and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group network.

 

City Solutions Platform

 

Cities around the world are fighting to find sustainable solutions for the challenges that have grown bigger than the cities themselves, whilst many cities face procurement and conflict-of-interest challenges when working directly with the private sector. The City Solutions Platform (CSP) is a way to support early engagement between cities and the private sector to accelerate the deployment of climate solutions. It will build a platform for public and private entities to work together to develop implementable city solutions on the global stage.

 

The CSP project has selected four pilot cities; Melbourne, Sydney, Seattle and Rio de Janeiro with the purpose of addressing their green challenges and develop Public-Private Partnerships. Through the CSP, pilot cities will address a variety of climate related challenges, leading to innovative solutions that can inspire other C40 cities.

 

Green partnerships build the future

 

At CLEAN we believe that partnerships are the driver for innovative and sustainable solutions. By sharing knowledge and developing technologies in collaborations with others, we increase the level of innovation, which leads to a greener future. At CLEAN we work for our members and our ambition is to provide them with knowledge, networks and partnerships that combine sustainable and economic interests.

 

The members of CLEAN represents the leading companies and actors within the Danish cleantech industry. Through committees, members are actively creating new project opportunities and discussing potential challenges. We need to address the challenges in order to solve them in the fight for a greener future – and we need to do it together!

 

 

 

 

For more information, please visit:

 

www.cleancluster.dk

 

 

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