Los Angeles Is a Hub of Clean Tech Innovation

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Photo: @porttechla

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By Makibi A. Takagi (’17)

Last week, several of my fellow Energy Management Group members and I attended the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator’s third annual Cleantech Global Showcase. The conference highlighted startups tackling the energy, transportation, food and water sustainability issues facing modern society. The showcase kicked off with keynote speaker Mayor Eric Garcetti, who highlighted how the Los Angeles leads in the advancement of policy supporting the development of clean technology.

Mayor Garcetti described the work L.A. is doing to overcome sustainability challenges, such as hosting the recent Climate Leaders Summit, where L.A. welcomed mayors from major cities in the U.S. and China to discuss sustainability initiatives. He also cited L.A.’s success in deploying sustainable technology to improve the life of Angelenos through the massive expansion of the light rail system and the widespread adoption of solar.

Later in the program, Anderson alumnus Ian Gardner (’99), chief strategy and investment officer of LACI, echoed Mayor Garcetti’s sentiments, and added that 2015 will be a landmark year for clean tech from an investment perspective as well. Gardner is also CEO of California Global Innovation Exchange (CAGIX), and therefore deeply involved in gathering and encouraging further investments to drive the clean tech revolution. He says that investments tend to be driven by public perception, politics and regulations, and that this year major shifts had occurred in all of these areas in favor of clean tech. He cited the announcement of the Clean Power Plan by President Barack Obama, the Clean Energy Investment Summit held at the White House in June, and the simultaneous calls by Pope Francis, the Dalai Lama and Islamic World Council to members of their faith to take on climate change. Gardner believes these changes will drive greater investment into the development of clean tech in the years to come.

Attending GLOSHO made me realize just how much L.A. is a burgeoning nexus of innovation. It made me feel fortunate to be at UCLA Anderson, near the center of the action. I came to Anderson after having worked as a utilities engineer for seven years, tasked with taking care of the gas infrastructure in major metropolitan areas. Through this work, I grew to appreciate how all aspects of life in cities — whether it be transportation, commerce or media — fundamentally rely on energy infrastructure, and became keenly aware of the herculean challenge that the nation’s utilities face in modernizing this infrastructure. I decided to pursue an MBA because I felt that it would help me make a bigger dent in this problem than as an engineer picking away at it one project at a time.

My classmate Dan Abbott (’16) brought his professional interests to the conference. “I enjoyed the panels LACI put together across the energy investing landscape,” he said. “I’m personally targeting a career in renewable energy project finance, which is definitely a niche focus coming out of an MBA program. It’s also an area that is undergoing a lot of rapid and exciting change. So to be able to hear executives from leading firms such as Wells Fargo, SunEdison and US Renewables Group speak about the trends they see in solar, storage and international financing was incredibly useful to me as I evaluate opportunities post-Anderson.”

Attending GLOSHO and seeing the work the folks at LACI and their portfolio companies are doing to tackle sustainability problems facing society made me feel that I am truly in good company here in Los Angeles. Moving forward, I hope to leverage the Anderson alumni network and the Energy Management Group resources to land an energy-related internship for the winter quarter and learn from the community of innovators that call this city home.