Cleantech 100

Today sees the launch of the Cleantech 100, a new listing of Europe's 'hottest 100 private cleantech companies', compiled by the good folk at Library House and published by the Guardian newspaper.

German thin-film solar developer Odersun takes the top spot - its CIS-based modules were used in many of the buildings for the Beijing Olympics. A couple of lower-profile UK energy management firms take the silver and bronze positions - DeepStream Technologies and CamSemi.

After the top ten, firms are arranged by sector - from upstream, via the various generation techs, through to consumption, efficiency and transport. Lots of familiar names for regular readers of Clean Ventures, and a few less familiar.

A quick count of the basic list finds that just over half the firms are from the UK, including some from each category. That's possibly a reflection of bias in the predominantly UK-based selection panel, but it certainly shows the breadth of innovation here in developing new products and services and even, dare I say it, in manufacturing - that's got to be good news given the current dire state of the country's core financial services sector. But to give fair dues, the presence here of Europe's most sophisticated VC market (likely to be relatively undamaged by the furore in the main banking markets) must also be a factor in the success of the UK cleantech sector.

The listing is linked to Library House's Essential Cleantech 2008 event in London next week. Places may still be available.