Talk by Erik Olsson at Nordic Green II Conference

1. Nordic Green II,
Funding Innovation in
the Nordics
Erik Olsson
Department of Business
Development and New Venture
Projects
The Swedish Energy Agency

2. The Swedish Energy Agency
• Established in 1998
• Main Swedish Government Agency for
implementing energy policy
• Facilitates the transformation towards a
sustainable energy system
• Promotes new energy technology and energy
efficiency, administers Energy R&D programs
and disseminates knowledge and information
• Mission is to promote the development of
Sweden’s energy system so that it will
become ecologically and economically
sustainable… a smarter use of energy.
• 250 employees at the Agency.
• Budget 2010: 2.5 Bkr (~ 350 M$)

3. International
• The Swedish Energy Agency
is working to promote
development in the fields of
energy and climate in selected
countries
• Through bilateral agreements
the Agency cooperates,
among others, with Brazil,
China, India, Ukraine, Poland
and the United States on
research in the field of energy
• ”SAGA”, the Swedish-
American Green Alliance
• MOU with California

4. Six Focus Areas

5. Swedish Energy Agency
Primary Energy Resources
Energy Carriers
Distribution
and storage
Policy
Research
Energy
Transformation
Innovation
Energy Services
Energy Recycling
The Energy System Sustainable use

6. Policy incentives for energy
technology development in Sweden
• High carbon taxes for heating since 1991
• Deregulated electricity market since 1996
• Trading certificates based on quotas for use of electricity
from renewable production sources since 2003
• Tradable emission permits for CO2 since 2005
• A high system know-how from a policy and technology
perspective
• Technology solutions that are based on integrated system
thinking

7. GDP in relation to emissions
BNP in relation to emissions
160
140
120
CO2e
Index yr 1990=100
100 GDP, fixed prices
SO2
80
NOx
60 VOC
40
20
0
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
96
98
99
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
Year

8. Financing of Energy Innovations
• Supports Research & Development & Demonstration
• International mechanisms like emissions trading and CDM/JI
• Public procurement
Our offer to the start-up companies
Offer Tools
• Financing • Soft loans
• Business Development
• Competence
• Network
• ”Packaging” • Network
VERIFIED
MARKET & SOLOUTIONS
UNIQUE TEAM
ECONOMY FOR FINANCE
TECHNOLOGY

9. Good early dealflow
- 100 Companies/year - DD
Results - Examples
- About 15 investments/year

10. Tanks for your attention!
Erik Olsson
www.energimyndigheten.se
www.swedishenergyagency.se

11. Three of the major challenges in
Sweden today:
• “The Swedish Paradox”
• Lack of VC Capital for
early stage companies
• The need of larger
amount of money in a
early stage

12. 1. “The Swedish Paradox”
• The Good News:
– Sweden tops the Innovation
Capacity Index Rankings 2009-
2010 (Innovation for
Development Report)
• Huge investments in R&D and
high tech companies do not lead
to more innovation, productivity
or profit

13. - “The Swedish Paradox”
• R&D is only one of many factors underpinning the
knowledge based society
• R&D is important, but the objective must be
company learning, not more R&D in and for itself
• Companies that are able to find, understand and
make use of new technology successes
• Policy makers must scrutinize all policies that
influences learning and innovation in firms,
including general framework conditions

14. 2. Lack of VC capital for early
stage companies
Critical sector
Close the gap!

15. - Finding other investors!
Capital Needs
IPO
Venture
Capital
Concentrate Funds
Early stage
on! and seed
venture
Business funds
Angels Later stage and
Friends, less investments!
Family & Risk
Founders
The Agency’s soft loans
EBAN -“Business Angel investing across Europe”, 2009-11-21

16. 3. The need of larger amount of
money in early stage
• <1 M$ for lab verification
• >10 M$ for full-scale demonstrations

17. - The call for second-generation
biofuels and other energy
technologies
• ~ 40 applications
• 5 companies assigned
(Chemrec, Södra Cell,
GoBiGas, Volvo,
Seabased)
• Governmental funding
total ~100 M$

18. - Continue the education of the
investment community
• Hosting seminars and investment forums
• Branch building/Networking
• Risk sharing initiatives
• Publications