WALTHAM, Mass. & MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Battery Ventures, a multi-stage investment firm focused on technology and innovation worldwide, hosted an educational, networking event on Smart Building Technology on September 15th in Palo Alto, CA. The session featured 13 expert speakers, including a keynote address from PG&E, and three panel discussions on Solid State Lighting (SSL), Demand Response (DR), and HVAC Analytics and Controls.
The event provided a forum for leaders in the Built Environment, including Property Managers, Owners/Tenants, Utilities and Technologists to discuss challenges and obstacles around the convergence of IT and building science to improve building performance. Innovative solutions that address these challenges, and that fully recognize and monetize the value of building energy savings were also unveiled.
Conclusions and key predictions from the summit, regarding the next generation of Smart Building Technology include:
- Building Management Systems were never intended to save energy – and they likely never will. They are designed to optimize around comfort. This has opened up an opportunity for third party companies to innovate and provide these solutions.
- Big data has met smart grid. Utilities, Property Managers and Building Automation System OEMs are not accustomed to managing large amounts of data that the smart grid and smart buildings are starting to produce. This requires a level of IT sophistication not common in these industries. While this is a challenge today, this presents an opportunity for new companies and new applications to emerge.
- Demand Response will be fully integrated into Building Management Systems within 5 years. This will not only increase the capacity of the DR market, but this will also enable more granular and sophisticated control of buildings to provide reliability services to the grid, which will increase the value of DR.
A more detailed recap, a full list of speakers and additional highlights are available on Battery’s Cleantech blog at www.cleanmakesgreen.com.
Visit Battery’s website for video highlights of the event, including interviews with keynote speaker Steve Malnight, VP of Customer Energy Solutions, PG&E Jed Dorsheimer, MD of Canaccord Genuity; and Jason Matlof, Partner, Battery Ventures.
This is Battery’s third “Plugged In” series event, which helps promote cleantech entrepreneurship. The first event occurred in April of 2009, when Battery convened a panel led by Congresswoman Anna Eschoo. The second took place in September of 2010, and featured Congressman Jay Inslee speaking about the critical impacts of government legislation on cleantech innovation.
About Battery Ventures
Since 1983, Battery has been investing in technology and innovation worldwide. The firm partners with entrepreneurs and management teams across technology sectors, geographies and stages of a company’s life, from start-up and expansion financing, to growth equity and buyouts.
Battery has supported many breakthrough companies around the world, including: Airespace (acquired by Cisco), Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM), BladeLogic (acquired by BMC Software), Cbeyond (NASDAQ: CBEY), ITA Software (acquired by Google), LIFFE (acquired by Euronext), MetroPCS (NYSE: PCS), Neoteris (acquired by Netscreen), Omniture (acquired by Adobe), and Skullcandy (NASDAQ-GM: SKUL).
Battery’s current portfolio includes emerging leaders in cleantech such as: Calxeda, Clean Urban Energy (CUE), FirstFuel Software, Luminus Devices, Qteros, Redwood Systems, SkyFoundry, and SolarBridge Technologies.
From offices in Boston, Silicon Valley and Israel, Battery manages $4B in committed capital, including its current fund of $750M. For more information visit www.battery.com or the firm’s cleantech blog, www.cleanmakesgreen.com. Follow Battery on Twitter at @BatteryVentures.