Chad Vander Veen's article in the March 2010 Governing magazine includes quotes from Matt Cheroutes, CCIA Founding Board Member:

"That's the case in Colorado, where Gov. Bill Ritter ordered his Energy Office, Economic Development Office and state CIO to collaborate on ways to nurture green technology start-ups and create demand among consumers for emerging — and typically more expensive — green products.

Colorado is testing a new Discovery Grant Program designed to help early stage companies, which are often simply groups of researchers attempting to take an idea out of the lab and into the commercial market.

'At that point, there's not a lot of available seed capital. So to give them some small grants at the very beginning really shows great support from the state,' says Matt Cheroutes, director of communications and external affairs for the Colorado Governor's Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

Cheroutes, a founding member of the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association, says strong executive support for green technology in Colorado will lead to job growth and economic prosperity. But that won't happen, he says, unless companies can deliver their products to a public that can afford them — a tall order in green tech markets that are often too immature to deliver at affordable economies of scale.

Cheroutes says the state works closely with renewable energy firms to develop incentives for consumers. Take solar power, for example, where the cost of installing solar panels typically doesn't pencil out for the average homeowner.

'We've had a lot of people in our state say they want solar on their homes,' Cheroutes says. 'But they simply can't afford the initial investment to do it. We've seen estimates anywhere from $8,000 for a very small home to $15,000 for a medium-sized home. These days, not a lot of people have the ability to pay that.'

The state worked with two Colorado solar firms — SolarCity and SunRun — to develop a financing model that makes solar installations more affordable. Instead of paying the full installation fee upfront, consumers instead put up a down payment that is a fraction of the total cost. Over the next three or four years, the energy savings the consumer realizes goes back to the solar company to pay the remaining balance. After the company is paid in full, the consumer's energy bill decreases significantly. . .

'The culture has changed in Colorado,' says Cheroutes. 'It's something that everyone in Colorado has sort of agreed to and bought in to. And whether that's out of a desire to protect our mountains or to keep our kids from being sent halfway around the world to fight, or if it's to keep kids who are home employed and working, it's a cultural mind change, and sometimes those are the hardest things to deal with in the beginning. So if you have the will of the people, of industry and of political leaders, you can make anything happen.'"

Link to the article

"Local bioscience industry boosters have formed a state-supported nonprofit institute to fund biotechnology startups and provide them executive leadership at their earliest stages.

The Colorado Institute for Drug, Device and Diagnostic Development (CID4) is armed with $3.75 million from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade and $1 million from the Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority in the next five years."

Link to the Denver Business Journal feature

From w3w3's Larry Nelson recapping his interview with CID4's Rick Duke and Kevin Smith:

"Kevin added, 'Back in late October when we last talked, we were poised to start operations, doing a lot of planning but we hadn't really started yet. The good news is since then we've finalized our grants with the State of Colorado and our grant with the Fitzsimmons Redevelopment Authority and we're ready to start operations. We've actually launched that first solicitation for technology. But in order to do that we've brought together a business and technical advisory committee consisting of some of the top leaders in the State of Colorado, both in the financing of early stage companies as well as folks with understanding of the medical drug technology development process and the medical device technology process.'"

"Larry asked, 'Rick could you tell us about the solicitation process and what kind of investments you're actually looking for?' 'We have a solicitation process that involves a very simple and straight forward application that's available on our web site and it's open for private companies as well as research institutions or even individual inventors to submit. The caveat is we are looking for technologies that are ready to enter clinical development.' Submissions are due March 1, 2010 and commercialization is a key word."

Link to the w3w3.com site (posted 2/22/10)

Link to download the mp3 from w3w3.com

"Yellow perch – the sweet, mild tasting fish that everyone loves, especially at Friday Night Fish Fries – is now officially back in time to kickoff the Lenten season. The rollout of Bell Aquaculture’s breaded yellow perch products and launch of the Bell Perch™ Online Ordering System means ample supplies of yellow perch fillets will now be available year around. Bell Aquaculture owns and operates of the nation’s largest yellow perch farm in Albany, IN, with corporate headquarters and production facilities nearby in Redkey, northeast of Indianapolis."

Link to the Culinary Schmooze article

"Baxa is a Douglas County-based medical device and software firm with annual sales of about $145 million that has been growing steadily in the annual 11 percent to 14 percent range.

Baldwin gratefully acknowledges the 2009 ACG Corporate Growth Award 'celebrating a leading company with steady growth and annual sales exceeding $100 million,' a description that fits Baxa like a glove."

Link to the Colorado Biz Magazine posting

Great news from Absolutely PR client, Bell Aquaculture - Bell's rolling out its Breaded Perch line (including both fillets and yummy Cajun Nuggets) and debuting their online ordering system. Details:

"Yellow perch – the sweet, mild tasting fish everyone loves, especially at Friday Night Fish Fries – is now officially back in time to kickoff the Lenten season. The rollout of Bell Aquaculture’s breaded yellow perch products and launch of the Bell Perch™ Online Ordering System means ample supplies of yellow perch fillets will now be available year around. Bell Aquaculture owns and operates of the nation’s largest yellow perch farm in Albany, IN, with corporate headquarters and production facilities nearby in Redkey, northeast of Indianapolis.

For the past year, as the farm has been building out, Bell Perch has only been available through restaurant partners and various public sales and special events, such as the annual Purdue University Ag Alumni Fish Fry."

Link to online ordering

Link to the PR Web newswire

Pharmacy Purchasing & Products Magazine featured Baxa Corporation's 2010 course dates its STAR Center® in the January 2010 issue. The STAR Center, the world’s first purpose-built premier facility designed for cleanroom and pharmacy practice demonstration, is located at the company’s headquarters south of Denver, Colorado.

Together, Baxa and the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) will host a series of courses in 2010 to be taught by industry experts and members of the USP 797 Sterile Compounding Committee.

Link to the PP&P January issue - New & Noteworthy

The Colorado Institute for Drug, Device and Diagnostic Development (CID4) officially launched today with a statewide “Call for Proposals” from Colorado life science technologies in need of funding and active management. The announcement is made by Kevin M. Smith, CID4 Executive Vice President/COO and spokesperson, who says “CID4 is a private, not-for-profit entity, formed in 2009 to bridge the gap between basic research and successful product commercialization, thereby creating more Colorado jobs in the life science industry.”

Link to the PR Web newswire

Link to details about the solicitation and submission form

Barbara T. Zimmerman, PhD, authors "The New Health Technology" in the January Denver Magazine. John Collar, CBSA President & CEO, and CBSA Board Members Rick Duke and Kevin Smith are included.

Pick up a copy on the newsstand or read online

Link to the Colorado BioScience Association

The CCIA's Founding Executive Director Chris Shapard is ringing in the New Year in Julie Dugdale's "Tech Savvy - Colorado's entrepreneurs go clean and green for the future" column. Chris' quote:

"The potential is huge," says Christine Shapard, executive director of the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association. "And not just for windmills and solar farms. There are so many opportunities here."

Go buy it at the news stand now (Colorado's own Dana Perino and keynoter at the PRSA Colorado member retreat this year or read it online by clicking here.

Link to the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association