• Thursday, February 28, 2008 Latest Update: 7:03AM

Greentech Media

Jennifer Kho February 28, 2008 16 Comments

Next Cleantech Hub: India?

As the industry faces a paucity of energy engineers, venture capitalist Vinod Khosla says India is well-positioned to be a greentech innovation leader.

Could India be the world’s next greentech hub? 

Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla thinks so.

At the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco this week, the Khosla Ventures founder and managing partner -- and Sun Microsystems co-founder -- said the country, with its vast intellectual talent, is well-positioned to develop some of the next big greentech breakthroughs.

The United States simply doesn’t have enough energy scientists, he said.

"The single biggest challenge in cleantech is really a lack of technologists here. No self-respecting Ph.D. graduate in the last 10 years has studied energy," he said, adding that the stigma is quickly changing, with energy becoming a popular subject in U.S. colleges. "That’s where engineers and technologists in India can complement [the industry]. They are actually doing what they were trained to do."

Khosla pointed to fuel-cell startup Bloom Energy, which is building a "massive" facility in Mumbai, and said that companies are building testing centers in India to take advantage of the country’s engineering talent.

And initiatives such as Kyoto’s clean-development mechanism create millions of dollars in incentives for cleantech innovation in India, he said.

In another sign of growth, the Cleantech Group announced Tuesday that it has expanded into India with offices, its first market report on cleantech trends in India -- expected to be published next month -- and an inaugural Cleantech Forum India slated for October.

Khosla will serve as the chairman of the Cleantech India Advisory Board.

Jashwinder Kaur, executive director of the Indian Venture Capital Association in Delhi and the Cleantech Group’s country director for India, said she expects to see India become a center for cleantech innovation as early as this year, after a number of venture groups raising money for cleantech funds begin looking to spend.

Venture-capital and private-equity investment in India already grew about 58 percent to $210 million last year, compared with $133 million in 2006, according to the Cleantech Group.

Kaur said that India has a culture of entrepreneurial spirit and innovation, pointing to the impact the country has had on the IT industry. The Cleantech Group plans to work to increase the deal flow in India by playing matchmaker, she said, and is looking for entrepreneurs who want to connect with global investors.

Not surprisingly, Khosla and Kaur also expect India to become a large market for green technologies, as its demand for energy skyrockets.

Kaur said environmental awareness in India has grown tremendously since she moved to Delhi from Canada less than two years ago. She pointed to evidence such as grocery stores and parks banning plastic bags. "I wouldn’t have imagined that two years ago," she said.

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Comments [16]

  • Daniel Englander 02/28/08 9:04 AM

    Khosla is such a blowhard. “No self-respecting Ph.D. graduate in the last 10 years has studied energy” Really? If I were MIT, Stanford, or CalTech I would ban him from speaking at those campuses just for making such a ridiculous, off-base comment.

    Reply
  • Mike Louis 02/28/08 10:51 AM

    Why does Greentech Media keep interviewing a man like Khosla who has little to contribute to the conversation about cleantech besides his outsized ego and fact-free tirades? It really brings down the level of discourse, especially considering all of the intelligent -and informed - investors in the space. Khosla gives cleantech a bad name and is an embarrassment.

     Reply
  • Robert Faust 02/28/08 3:54 PM

    Isn’t suggesting that that top tech institutions should ban one of the most visible current VCs kind of a ridiculous, off-base comment?

     Reply
  • Robert Faust 02/28/08 3:55 PM

    Isn’t suggesting that that top tech institutions should ban one of the most visible current VCs a ridiculous, off-base comment?

     Reply
  • Robert Faust 02/28/08 3:55 PM

    Oops, double-posted there. It bears repeating, anyway.

     Reply
  • Mike Louis 02/28/08 9:22 PM

    You seem to confuse visibility with knowledge, and yes, it would be appropriate to encourage researchers to look to investors who a) know what they are talking about, and b) treat others with respect. Khosla is neither, and it makes sense for universities to shun him. His public comments (like these) consistently belittle and insult the efforts of energy researchers far more knowledgeable - and humble - than he.

    But perhaps when he loses his LP’s money and is relegated to cosmetic surgery techniques, it will be proof of justice in the world.

     Reply
  • Robert Faust 02/29/08 1:13 PM

    No, I just think that visibility is as valid a reason for a university to bring in a speaker as is knowledge. Education is a business and money follows notoriety, not some ideal of correctness. This understanding is probably why Khosla is a major VC and you are a guy arguing with another guy on a message board.

     Reply
  • Daniel Englander 02/29/08 3:12 PM

    yeah, but when you’re knowledge is fake or self-aggrandizing, any visibility that might come with you is negative. and faust54, i count you four times on this thread - including the double post - so who’s smart and who’s the guy arguing on message boards?

     Reply
  • Robert Faust 02/29/08 3:32 PM

    Hey I never claimed to be as smart as the exalted Khosla. That’s why I’m down here with you fools.

     Reply
  • Daniel Englander 02/29/08 3:44 PM

    exalted khosla? spare me. maybe in his mind. and yours. and as far as i’m concerned, neither of your opinions are worth a dime. but i guess that’s the only time you and khosla will have anything in common.

    Reply
  • maria lima 06/9/08 9:47 AM

    greengoblin:
    “yeah, but when you’re knowledge is fake or self-aggrandizing,”

    don’t claim to be the smart one until you master basic English grammar

     Reply
  • maria lima 06/9/08 10:01 AM

    you don’t need to agree with his opinions but to claim that they “aren’t worth a dime” is ridiculous
    everyone has a right to his/her opinion no matter how “stupid” they may seem to you
    your elementary arguments go against your self-claimed knowledge
    there is no need to insult others just because they disagree with you.  last time i checked this wasn’t the 2nd grade playground.  argue like an adult or don’t bother, because you are simply making a fool of yourself

     Reply
  • Steve Pluvia 06/9/08 6:02 PM

    Marialima, did you just criticized greengoblin for name calling—then call him… a name?

    In fairness, Khosla has invested more in ethanol tech that subsequently went bankrupt than any other VC;  His record for wrongly criticizing, then missing great solar investments is legend. A blowhard-loser by any other name is still…

    Reply
  • adam moritz 06/10/08 12:09 PM

    Building a massive facility to research fuel cells is like re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic—not a sign that India is on some kind of green streak.  If researching fuel cells was “green” well then the United States would be an environmental superstar.

    Where are you going to get the energy to extract, compress and transport the hydrogen?  Even if you invented a fuel cell powerful enough to propel a semi truck and sold them for a buck a piece, you still wouldn’t have solved a damn thing with this net-energy-loss fraud.

     Reply
  • charlie d 06/11/08 7:30 AM

    i don’t see anywhere marialima calling anyone names…she seems only to be trying to inform posters that this isn’t myspace…let’s keep the post a bit less personal and more professional
    I think we’d all benefit from less arguing and more focus on the true issue at hand…like cleantech

     Reply

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