2008 Incubator of the Year, Technology Category Winner

Environmental Business Cluster

San Jose, Calif.

Jim Robbins, executive director

Year established: 1994

Incubator size: 24,000 square feet shared with Software Business Cluster (The leasable square footage at EBC fluctuates between 8,000 and 12,000 square feet, based upon client needs.)

Incubator clients: 25

Incubator graduates: 120

www.environmentalcluster.org/Description.htm

Achievements: The slogan of Environmental Business Cluster is “Improving the environment one company at a time.” And since 1994, EBC has been doing just that.

Because they believed there were too few promising environmentally friendly products and technologies reaching the marketplace, a group of stakeholders – including Peninsula Conservation Center, Pacific Gas & Electric, Arthur Anderson, Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich, Applied Materials, CitiBank and Joint Venture Silicon Valley – formed EBC to assist early-stage companies developing clean and renewable energy products and other products that would have a positive impact on the environment.

Since its inception, the incubator has helped 145 companies commercialize environmental technology and create clean-tech jobs. In partnership with the city of San Jose and San Jose State University, EBC has become the largest private clean energy commercialization center in the U.S. for start-up companies.

“We have been instrumental in helping San Jose become the second ranked ‘CleanTech City’ in the U.S. by SustainLane, an independent online media company,” says EBC Executive Director Jim Robbins.