The main conclusion of the 2007 La Baule WIC was a strong demand for
transatlantic cooperation to accelerate R&D and business initiatives in
GreenTech. The Transatlantic Green Platform will take place on June 5
in La Baule (France) at the initiative of the Europe Plus
Foundation. Some 200 innovative companies, investors, researchers and
European and American politicians will meet to enhance transatlantic
cooperation on technologies with strong impact on the environment and
in particular, renewables. In addition, 20 selected European and US
start-ups will present their innovative technologies.
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I. The first Transatlantic Green Platform: June 5, 2008 (10.30 AM -
7:00 PM), La Baule (France)
The discussions of the 2007 World Investment Conference on "Global
environmental challenges and economic opportunities for Europe" resulted in a series of recommendations, including the need to
strengthen the transatlantic dialogue. The objective is to set up
cooperation, partnerships, research, innovation and business
opportunities among the main actors within environmental technologies.
Thus, a few days before the French EU Presidency and on the World
Environment Day, the Europe Plus Foundation launches the first
transatlantic platform on environmental technologies. This
initiative is supported by several Member States (Italy, Spain, France
Scandinavia) and two American states (California and Texas), and will
contribute to Europe Plus´s input to the
French Presidency on the issue of environment.
II. Numerous debates and roundtables with representatives from
Economy, Research and Policy
The conference includes two sessions:
Morning: presentation of innovative GreenTech companies from Europe
and the US
Afternoon: transatlantic dialogue on environmental technologies.
Some 200 experts will bring their contribution to the general theme of
this conference: "How to develop R&D in favor
of renewables?"
The transatlantic exchanges will address three main themes:
"Bringing Green to Market"
dedicated to technology transfer
"Public Policies, a Driver for Green"
devoted to public policy incentives
"Financing R&D and new Business in Green"
on financing of research in innovative companies.
III. The participants
High-level representatives from the main industrial energy groups (GE, SIEMENS, TOTAL, BP, EDF, GDF, ENEL, ENI, ENDESA, AREVA, IBERDROLA
ABENGOA, E.ON"¦) and specialized Venture
Capitalists (ALOE, ETF"¦) will be
present. Some 80 Texan and Californian key actors are part of the
US delegation coordinated by the University of Sacramento. Experts
include Lorraine Bolsinger, Vice-President Ecomagination, GE -
Kai-Oliver Kölmel, Vice President of the
Renewable Energy Division of Siemens - Andreas Wild, Director
Technology Solutions, EMEA, Freescale Semiconductor"¦
The closing session will be made by a dozen of high-level political
economic and scientific decision makers including Jean-Louis
Borloo, French Minister for Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and
Spacial Planning, Rick Perry and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governors of
California and Texas, Maud Olofsson, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for
Enterprise and Energy, Sweden, and a representative from Mr Zapatero´s
Government (Spain).
The recommendations of the first Transatlantic Green Platform will be
presented at a press conference planned for Thursday June 5, at 8 PM, immediately after the official closing session, which will include the
above key figures. Accreditation for this press meeting is requested.
www.labaulewic.org
The Europe+ Foundation is an independent platform that supplies
analytical tools and governance guidance to promote the attractiveness
and competitiveness of the European Union, its Member States and
regions. The Foundation´s aim is to take the
conclusions of WIC working groups further and ensure follow-up of
recommendations addressed to the European Commission and the European
Parliament, as well as to governments and Member States. "Europe+
is a dynamic platform founded on the exchange of best practices, the
diversity of its members, the multiplicity of its experiences and
public-private partnership. We are neither a lobby associated with
particular interest groups, nor a traditional think tank working on
general or purely theoretical positions," remind the two Co-Chairmen of the Foundation. The high-level think tank
of Europe+ gathers more than a hundred international personalities drawn
from the world of business, government and academia.
