To what extent is your company exploring, researching or utilizing cleantech?
Cleantech spending in 2011 (US$ millions)
Anticipated change in spending 2012–2014
Top three factors influencing cleantech technology
How will the cleantech focus of corporate developmentexecutives change over the next three years?
What is the focus of your cleantech acquisition strategy?
What are your primary drivers in partnering withemerging cleantech companies?
Corporations are leveraging their brand power to move into new cleantech markets.
Global corporations across numerous industries are moving quickly to pursue cleantech revenue opportunities. The revenue opportunities are transformational because 1) they arise from a shift to a resource-efficient and low-carbon economy, and 2) they are changing corporate business strategies.
The path of transformation
Corporations are pursuing transformative opportunities in several important ways.
- Incorporating clean technologies into existing products to improve their environmental performance
- Entering cleantech segments that are adjacent to existing businesses
- Leveraging their brand power to move into new cleantech markets
The innovations and emerging business models related to the new ecosystem generate fundamental corporate transformations. For example, the electric vehicles market involves carmakers, utilities, battery manufacturers and smart-grid companies, and a broader constituency of consumer products, retailers and communication corporations.
Widespread corporate cleantech adoption
Our survey results show that cleantech adoption is widespread among the world's largest enterprises. Fifty-seven percent of respondents said that cleantech was widely adopted throughout their organizations and championed by their senior management.
In terms of actual spending, 44% of executives say their corporations plan to spend more than US$50 million in 2011 on cleantech initiatives.
Growing focus on revenue generation
Survey respondents are focused on cleantech as a way to increase revenue. While operational efficiency remains number one, revenue generation moved up to second from third last year.
Corporations recognize that, without the efficient use of energy and natural resources integrated into strategy and operations, they will lag behind competitors because of:
- Growing resource scarcity
- Rising energy prices
- Energy security concerns
Transformation through acquisition of cleantech innovation
Our survey reveals that the world's largest corporations are pursuing transformation through the internal R&D investments and through an active program of cleantech company acquisitions.
A shift to leading-edge technology acquisitions
To date, respondents have favored "value" cleantech acquisitions — i.e., ones that provide incremental improvements to existing technologies with immediate returns.
However, over the next five years, executives indicated that they will increasingly acquire "leading-edge" technologies.
Partnerships and the transformation agenda
The transformation agenda can also be seen clearly in corporate partnering strategies related to emerging cleantech companies, vital to boosting in-house innovation and seizing market opportunities as the world moves toward a resource-efficient and low-carbon economy.
Seizing transformational opportunities
The first stage of the corporate response to the transformation to a more resource-efficient and low-carbon global economy is underway and executives of market-leading companies are moving to the second stage.
First stage: improvements in resource efficiency
Second stage: seizing transformational opportunities to create new cleantech-enabled products and leverage core competencies to enter the cleantech market or enter entirely new markets, all with the objective of new revenue generation
This is leading us to an era of profound transformation — in products, companies and industries — as the balance sheets of global corporations are brought to bear on cleantech-enabled revenue opportunities.
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