CleanTechnica

There were many viewpoints this weekend at TIE’s annual ‘pow-wow’ TIEcon 2009 when it came to cleantech, but if I were to boil them down (in a electric stove running on renewable energy) I would say the essence can be summarized as this: the mundane matters.

I say this not because there was a lack of enthusiasm in the air-absolutely the opposite-rather I say it because a more zoomed-out perspective on cleantech has begun to crystallize, and with that everyone from VC’s to the entrepreneurs bootstrapping their way through the battlefields of innovation has recognized the value of niches within the ‘ecosystem’ of cleantech.

This, of course, is a fitting metaphor for the area of innovation hoping to save us from ourselves. The area of innovation slated to reinvigorate our intuitions about what it means to work alongside nature as opposed to taking it for granted. At the same time, the principles of business and innovation surrounding growth of capital via monetization requires these innovations to return deep profits for those invested. Here’s how that duality played out in real-time:

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Cleantech IPOs have ground to a halt, and industry insiders at the Clean-Tech Investor Summit this week said they expect the no-exit environment to continue.

Mohr Davidow Ventures partner Will Coleman, who moderated a cleantech-financing panel at the event, asked panelists to guess when the IPOs would come back. “The second quarter, which doesn’t mean the markets [will have] reopened,” said Gary Vollen, managing director of the Stanford Group Co. “I think the third quarter, probably,” guessed Jeff Lipton, managing director of Jeffries & Co. Inc.

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Attendees of the fifth annual Clean-Tech Investor Summit, which starts Tuesday in Indian Wells, Calif., might notice a change in the agenda from previous years. The annual panel on cleantech investment exits –IPOs or acquisitions of venture-backed startups – has disappeared.

It’s a reflection of the economic environment, said Ron Pernick, a principal at research firm Clean Edge and a co-producer of the conference. “There haven’t been any exits to speak of, which tells you something,” he said.

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Think of Björk and the Icelandic musician’s bizarre videos, eccentric clothing and eclectic music might spring to mind. Now she’s bringing a new theme to her persona: money.

Reykjavik, Iceland-based Audur Capital is raising money for its second venture-capital fund, named Björk, focused on greentech startups (via Earth2Tech and The New York Times). The singer and Audur jointly established the fund to help turn around Iceland’s economy, which was crushed by the country’s banking collapse in the fall. Audur seeded the fund, expected to close in March, with an investment of 100 million Icelandic kronur (about $816,330).

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It’s been quite a year for the cleantech industry, with roller-coaster oil and stock prices, multiyear federal tax credits finally passed after more than a year of narrowly failed attempts, the beginning of a recession and the election of a new president.

“It feels like it’s been three years in one just with all the emotions,” said Michael Butler, CEO of investment bank Cascadia Capital. “A lot of people thought they were having a really good year, then they were hit with the negative economic environment. … So many people are saying ‘let’s just shut down until the end of the year.’”

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