IPEx Cleantech Asia provides technology transfer marketplace.
There’s a multi-billion dollar market in Asia for low carbon clean technology − or Cleantech − and IPEx Cleantech Asia has been launched to capitalise on this. The new Singapore-based entity will act as a matchmaker and service provider, assisting both technology companies from around the world with innovative products and services, and prospective buyers and adopters in Asian countries. Believed to be the world’s first Cleantech Intellectual Property (IP) Assisted Brokerage Platform, it is an initiative of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and is set up by ReEx Capital Asia and DNV GL Clean Technology Centre.
The initial focus areas for IPEx Cleantech Asia are Solar, Energy Storage, Energy Efficiency and Waste to Energy. It is equipped to identify deals that could create value for both technology holders and acquirers, as well as provide enhanced due diligence assessment to cover patent, IP, financial and commercial as well as technical considerations. The market potential for Cleantech investments in Asia is estimated by the industry to be between US$20 and 50 billion per annum between now and 2020, while the World Bank estimates that a further US$20-30 billion per annum is required to shift to low-emission technologies in developing countries.
As the region is home to 53 percent of the world's population and some of the world's fastest-growing economies, the majority of Cleantech funding is expected to happen in the Asia Pacific region, which is also the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
One of the prime movers behind IPEx Cleantech Asia, ReEx Capital Asia will operate the platform with DNV GL Clean Technology Center providing policy and technical advisory services.
ReEx Capital Asia’s CEO, Yanis Boudjouher, says “IPEx will operate by proactively bringing together low carbon technologies (LCTs) and those ready and willing to finance and acquire them”.
Frederic Crampe, ReEx Capital Asia’s co-founder, adds that “the assisted brokerage entity will bridge LCTs from around the world with relevant Asia-based project developers and systems integrators”.
The other key partner in this venture, Dr Sanjay C Kuttan, Director of DNV GL Clean Technology Centre, says “IPEx Cleantech Asia will accelerate the transfer and deployment of LCTs to developing Asia by ensuring a high level pre-feasibility evaluation is in place that facilitates the transaction, thereby helping to mitigate climate change impacts and stimulate economic development”.
ADB’s Jiwan Acharya, Senior Climate Change Specialist, said during the side event of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Climate Change Conference held in Lima, Peru: "Asia and the Pacific has the most to gain and the most to lose from climate change. Greater access to climate technologies and financing would help put the region on a low-carbon path that would benefit the region, and the world."
The parties involved in the new marketplace have extensive experience in the technology transfer, IP, technology and funding in the Cleantech sector, most notably involving investments in renewable energy projects in Asia.