research Forward
Early insight. Faster innovation. Stuff you didn’t know existed.
A new platform for mapping and capturing cleantech.
Our Transactional Research Platform
The Problem
Most corporate innovation programs focus their attention, analysis, and capital on three places: Silicon Valley, Boston, and NYC. With innovation flourishing in SEP’s Colorado backyard, we know something is missing from the picture. What about the rest of the United States?
As investors, this gap tells us that we are overlooking crucial cleantech opportunities. As innovators and entrepreneurs, we know this is a problem we can solve.
Our Solution
We’ve created services synthesizing SEP’s unique tools and systems (Innovation Hubs, Cleantech Sectors, and Green Metrics) and access to information from top business intelligence platforms and primary research (which comprises our Datalab). We created these services based on the deep industry knowledge, critical analysis, and investment-centric lens of the SEP team.
Our research platform helps you enhance your innovation program, make informed cleantech investments, and develop new cleantech products. We know it works because we use it.
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Innovation Reporting
Early insight. A new way of identifying and analyzing cleantech in innovation hubs.
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Practice Areas
Get ahead of the curve. Unparalleled insight into high-impact clean technologies.
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Tailored Engagement Analysis
Innovate faster. Individualized reports and projects with hands-on support.
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Innovation Hubs
The core of our unique approach. Where cleantech is thriving, but venture capital hasn’t caught up.
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Cleantech Sectors
The organizing principle of our world. A taxonomy of nine sectors captures all investable cleantech.
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Green Metrics
The ultimate purpose of what we do. Decarbonization, sustainability, and a healthy planet.
Tools
Innovation Hubs
Cleantech Innovation Hubs Survey
To halt the environmental crisis and Solve Climate+ by 2050, we must leverage all the cleantech ecosystems in the US. The inaugural 2021 SEP Cleantech Innovation Hubs Survey evaluates and ranks the top 40 hubs by the strength of their cleantech ecosystems. We characterize the strength of each hub with curated datasets grouped by research funding and results, technology development, venture development, and other metrics.
A summary whitepaper of the 2021 Survey is available below. The complete Survey (with added analysis and information, details of each dataset, methodology, and key takeaways by hub) will be available to clients of our Innovation Flow Reporting service.
Deep Mapping of Emerging Hubs
SEP conducted its first deep mapping of an Innovation Hub in 2020 for what we call the Colorado Clean Range. Our hypothesis was:
Significantly more information existed about cleantech innovators, companies, and stakeholders than we knew or was available from third-party sources.
The relationships among the entities, people, and opportunities would show valuable patterns.
The result was a treasure trove of previously unknown information and connections. We then conducted the 2021 Annual Survey to learn about other hubs and determine where to focus. Today, SEP is engaged in an expanded deep mapping process of top-ranked emerging hubs. Deep maps and the 2021 Survey create a data-driven tool that is part of our Innovation Flow Reporting service.
Systems
Sectors
We view the cleantech ecosystem through the lens of nine primary sectors, each with multiple sub-sectors, technology groups, supply chains, and market applications. This system is essentially a cleantech thesaurus that allows us to organize our data and see the relationships between each group of investible technologies. Our sector grid flows left to right from starting materials to end-products. The complete system is available to subscribers of our IFR service.
Click the icons below to learn more.
Systems
Green Metrics
Within our framework of Innovation Hubs and Cleantech Sectors, we view companies and technologies through the lens of Green Metrics. These metrics quantify the answers to questions such as:
What environmental impact will the company or technology have?
Does it align with major climate goals and standards?
Will it reduce emissions, environmental toxicity, resource use, or waste?
What process is it displacing (or mitigating)?
What is the environmental benefit per dollar?
We rely on widely recognized environmental standards, such as Project Drawdown, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Circular Economy framework, and the Global Reporting Initiative.
To see examples of how we apply these metrics, go to our sectors or portfolio companies.
Services
Innovation reporting
Designed for new insights into cleantech.
What is Innovation Reporting? How can it benefit your company?
Our Innovation Reports are designed to illuminate innovation hubs and identify and capture the best cleantech commercialization opportunities for corporate clients. SEP’s Innovation Hubs tool and Datalab (with access to leading third-party business, technical, and market databases) drive the deliverables for our clients. SEP also tracks key cleantech topics, which are technologies and markets with substantial environmental benefits and investment potential. We use the SEP Cleantech Sectors and Green Metrics systems to organize and prioritize our data.
Innovation Reporting generates new opportunities by connecting corporate innovation programs, R&D departments, CVC offices, and open innovation initiatives to a rich cleantech ecosystem. See all of our current reports here.
Features:
Topic Reports
Cover specific clean technology groups or markets with high impact potential. Deep dive in Hubs, light dive globally. Released twice per quarter.
Update Reports
Analyze information about sectors, companies, investors, events, and opportunities within deep-mapped Hubs and related topics. Released quarterly.
Bulletins
Timely briefs covering new data, interesting events, company highlights, and other cleantech news regarding Hubs and topics. Just the facts.
Next STEP
Schedule a video consultation. The initial customer discovery process helps us identify what is most important to you. What do you hope to achieve with new insights?
Services
Tailored Engagement analysis
Directed cleantech research, analysis, and projects for the SEP Community.
Offerings:
Due Diligence
Due diligence reports inform investments and collaborations. Diligence is done in one or two phases, depending on your requirements and objectives.
Phase 1: Includes detailed review and analysis of a startup’s presented financing, cap table, financial statements and forecasts, senior team, GTM strategy, IP, technology specifications and feasibility, production process and cost stack, supply chain position, market research (TAM, competitors, growth potential), and key customers and pipelines.
Phase 2: Includes complete checks of corporate documents, financial documents, securities, human resources information, IP documentation, material agreements, and corporate structure.
Technology and Market Reports
We conduct technology and market reports to evaluate potential investment or collaboration opportunities for our clients. Our technology and market evaluations can be part of a due diligence report or contracted separately. Reports may include interviews with experts, in-depth research and data gathering, and financial models, depending on the scope.
While each evaluation is different, we aim to answer fundamental questions:
Technology reports: Is the IP landscape robust? Will the technology work? How are products made? What are the production economics? Will the technology make a difference relative to green metrics?
Market reports: What is the market landscape? What is the pricing structure and supply chain? Are innovation disruptions anticipated? What is the actual TAM? How are green metrics applied?
Projects
Projects are transactional in nature, covering a wide variety of work to advance corporate innovation and invest in cleantech.
Examples of previous projects include:
Structuring an equity investment or project finance.
Developing and managing collaboration with a research institution or startup.
Facilitating a joint product development or distribution agreement.
Briefings
Briefings are data compilations drawn directly from our Innovation Hubs tool and Datalab.
The Datalab is SEP’s access to third-party business, technical, and market intelligence databases; primary research capability; monitoring of key organizations; and communication with experts.
Briefings gather data about a company or technology to answer a specific question or provide a basic overview.
Contact us to schedule a video consultation to discuss how we can support your company’s specific research, analysis, or project needs. Note that SEP conducts a conflict of interest review prior to initiating any project work.
Connecting Cleantech opportunities and Investment Strategy
Venture Capital with Optionality
Understanding the cleantech landscape leads to the ultimate goal of our research platform: Commercializing more clean technologies faster. However, mapping and analyzing data is only half of the picture.
To Solve Climate+ by 2050, SEP is building companies that commercialize cleantech and reserving a seat at the table for participation by corporate partners.