GE and its venture capital partners announced intentions to invest $63 million in 10 innovative home energy technology companies, as a part of the $200 million “GE ecomagination Challenge.”
In a release Beth Comstock, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, GE said, “After one year and $134 million committed to new partners, we delivered on our goal to scale and commercialize the best new ideas through open innovation.”
“The power of networked ideas, collaboration and partnerships to accelerate innovation represents a gathering force whose impact will be a significant driver in the future of business,” Comstock added.
“Powering Your Home,” is part of the GE ecomagination challenge and was launched in January in order to improve household energy efficiency through new technologies. The Challenge resulted in 22 new commercial partnerships and resulted in the acquisition of FMC-Tech, a smart grid technology during the first phase.
Mark Vachon, vice president of ecomagination explained that the challenge has become an important platform at GE resulting in new partnerships and funding of commercial pilots.
“The Challenge has also changed how we do business at GE – we learned that accelerating open innovation across public, private and national borders can drive shared value for the company and its partners,” Vachon added.
According to GE sources an additional $20 million will be invested for scaling and commercializing ideas from the Challenge through a new ecomagination Innovation Council. Also planned are more region-specific ecomagination Challenges as in China later this year besides the provision of support for early stage ideas in Europe and their further development.
The $63 million that GE and its partners plan to invest in phase two include 10 new concepts from consumer clean tech sectors encompassing solar, communications and software with more focus on efficiency.
In related news GE also announced that it will invest in Nuventix, Inc., a provider of thermal management solutions.
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Shamila Janakiraman is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Shamila’s articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Jennifer Russell
