In October this year, Beneq, together with the Shanghai Center for Photovoltaics (SCPV), hosted an invitation-only specialist seminar for executive level decision makers and experts in photovoltaics (PV).

In October, an exclusive two-day solar energy seminar was held in Shanghai. The intention of the seminar was primarily to bring together executive-level cell manufacturing representatives with academic and industrial experts on emerging cell-enhancing coating technologies, e.g., atomic layer deposition (ALD) and aerosol coating, both of which are provided by Beneq.

The participants, more than 100 top-level business delegates and research experts met for two intense days to learn about the current status of PV both globally and in China, and Beneq coating equipment for silicon-based and thin film solar cells. Speakers at the seminar included Prof. Junhao Chu, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Science and Director of SCPV, Qiang Huang, Vice President of Trina Solar, Dr Xiaoguang Ma, CTO of Suntech and Dr Winfried Hoffmann, Vice President of EPIA.

Prof. Junhao Chu, Director of SCPV and who opened the seminar, summarizes: “We are very pleased with the success of this seminar. In order to ensure consistent development of research and development of photovoltaics in China, we need these kinds of events. Personally, I was pleased with the high standard of speakers, and the level of interest of the participants. We have found that closed invitation-only seminars lead to a more open atmosphere among the participants, thus enabling tangible decisions and concrete outcomes.”

Beneq CEO, Sampo Ahonen, who addressed the seminar, comments: “This concept is clearly a win-win occasion for all involved. It is seldom a company gets the opportunity like this to meet face-to-face with top level management of the biggest cell manufacturing companies in China. It is likewise rare to meet such a number of distinguished speakers, all of which are recognized authorities in their respective field of expertise.”

The aforementioned seminar was arranged by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai Branch, the Shanghai Solar Energy Society, the Shanghai Vacuum Society and Shanghai Physical Society, hosted by the Shanghai Center for Photovoltaics and Beneq and supported by the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics of CAS, the East China Normal University-Colorado State University Joint Research Institute for New Energy and the Environment, the Key Laboratory of Advanced Technique & Preparation for Renewable Energy Materials, Ministry of Education, Yunnan Normal University and the Institute of Solar Energy, Shanghai Jiaotong University.

For more information, please contact:
Mr Sampo Ahonen, CEO, Beneq Oy
Tel: +358 40 520 1090
e-mail: sampo.ahonen(at)beneq.com

Beneq Oy, based in Finland, is a supplier of equipment and coating technology for global markets. Beneq turns innovations into success by developing applications and equipment for cleantech and renewable energy fields, especially in glass, solar and emerging thin film markets. Coating applications include optics, barriers and passivation layers, as well as energy generation and conservation. Beneq also offers complete coating services. The coating applications of Beneq are based on two enabling nanotechnology platforms: Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and aerosol coating (nHALO® and nAERO®). www.beneq.com

Shanghai Center for Photovoltaics (SCPV) is a non-profit R&D organization for solar cell related research and development. The mission of SCPV embraces contributing to the National Energy Strategy, conducting industry oriented research and technology development and undertaking national level fundamental research. The R&D focus of SCPV includes physical purification techniques for solar grade poly-silicon, thin film solar cells (e.g., CIGS/CdTe), novel concept solar cells as well as testing standards. The center has a staff of more than 50, with one Academician (CAS), nine Research and five Assistant Professors.

Beneq, nHALO and nAERO are registered trademarks of Beneq Oy. 

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Beneq today has the pleasure to announce that it has been chosen by the Global Cleantech Cluster Association (GCCA) as a 2011 Later Stage Award Top 30 finalist.  Inclusion in the GCCA Global Top 30 reflects the strong business and market position of the company in the category sector, and signifies its innovative approaches and technologies are gaining a foothold in the new global green economy. Beneq was nominated for the GCCA Later Stage Award by the Finnish Cleantech Cluster in May 2011. The company’s business model, market position, profitability and potential at creating and capturing market share (among other criteria) have subsequently qualified it to be a GCCA Later Stage Award 2011 Global Top 30 Finalist.

“Narrowing down 185 nominations from cleantech clusters all over the world down to 30 was a very competitive process,” says Ben Taube, Chairman of the GCCA. “These Top 30 Finalists are the rising stars of the world’s clean technology sector.”

“These companies, with their customers and revenue, are building significant green collar economies in the regions where they operate,” said Shawn Lesser Co-Founder of the GCCA. “For the health of the planet, both economically and environmentally, we are committed to spotlighting these game-changing companies on the world stage.”

The GCCA Later Stage Award Global Top 30 Finalists were selected out of the 4000 companies represented by the GCCA’s 30 member clusters, ranging from North America and Europe to Asia. Each cluster conducted internal evaluations to nominate up to 10 companies in 10 categories, including solar, wind, energy storage, green buildings, water and more. In total, these member clusters nominated 185 companies for the 2011 Later Stage Award.

For more information, please contact:

Mr Sampo Ahonen, CEO, Beneq Oy
Tel: +358 40 520 1090
e-mail: sampo.ahonen(at)beneq.com

Beneq Oy, based in Finland, is a supplier of equipment and coating technology for global markets. Beneq turns innovations into success by developing applications and equipment for cleantech and renewable energy fields, especially in glass, solar and emerging thin film markets. Coating applications include optics, barriers and passivation layers, as well as energy generation and conservation. Beneq also offers complete coating services. The coating applications of Beneq are based on two enabling nanotechnology platforms: Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and aerosol coating (nHALO® and nAERO®). www.beneq.com

About the Global Cleantech Cluster Association, The Global Cleantech Cluster Association creates conduits for companies to harness the tremendous benefits of international cleantech cluster collaboration in an efficient, affordable, and structured way.  Global Cleantech provides a gateway for established and emerging cleantech companies to gain exposure to potential investors, new markets, influential networks, innovative technologies and best practices.  GCCA was founded by swisscleantech, the Finnish Cleantech Cluster, and Watershed Capital Group. The GCCA Later Stage Award is sponsored by Grant Thornton International. For more information about Global Cleantech, please visit www.globalcleantech.org.

Beneq, nHALO and nAERO are registered trademarks of Beneq Oy.

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Beneq has been chosen a Winner of Red Herring's Top 100 Europe prize, an award in recognition of the leading private companies from Europe, celebrating these startups’ innovations and technologies across their respective industries.

Red Herring’s Top 100 Europe list has become a mark of distinction for identifying promising new companies and entrepreneurs. Red Herring editors were among the first to recognize that companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Skype, YouTube, and eBay would change the way we live and work.

“Choosing the companies with the strongest potential was by no means a small feat,” said Alex Vieux, publisher and CEO of Red Herring. “After rigorous contemplation and discussion, we narrowed our list down from hundreds of candidates from across Europe to the Top 100 Winners. We believe Beneq embodies the vision, drive and innovation that define a successful entrepreneurial venture. Beneq should be proud of its accomplishment, as the competition was very strong. Mr Sampo Ahonen, Beneq CEO, comments: “To rise from Finalist to Winner in Red Herring’s challenge is an honor we acknowledge and value highly. My personal thanks for having achieved this award of recognition go to everyone at Beneq, our partners and our customers, all of which bear a critical role in building success and profit for our business.

For more information, please contact:

Sampo Ahonen, CEO, Beneq Oy
tel.          +358 40 520 1090
e-mail    sampo.ahonen(at)beneq.com

Beneq Oy, based in Finland, is a supplier of equipment and coating technology for global markets. Beneq turns innovations into success by developing applications and equipment for cleantech and renewable energy fields, especially in glass, solar and emerging thin film markets. Coating applications include optics, barriers and passivation layers, as well as energy generation and conservation. Beneq also offers complete coating services. The coating applications of Beneq
are based on two enabling nanotechnology platforms: Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and aerosol coating (nHALO® and nAERO®). www.beneq.com

Beneq, nAERO and nHALO are registered trademarks of Beneq Oy.

Read the news in pdf-format.

During a recent visit to Finland, Indian Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Mr Farooq Abdullah, met Finnish Minister of the Environment, Mrs Paula Lehtomäki, together with Cleantech Finland officials and member companies, including Beneq.

Minister Farooq Abdullah opened the meeting by emphasizing his interest in solutions that Cleantech Finland member companies have for the most important energy questions facing India. India's consumption of energy is today the fifth largest in the world, exceeding own production by 12.7%. Rapid domestic economic and population growth will keep the need for energy growing in the future, and so the challenge is how to increase both energy production and energy efficiency. Another major challenge is the restricted availability of electrical power; more than 400 million Indians have no access to electricity. The situation is most serious in scarcely populated areas. In addition, there are frequent interruptions in local electricity distribution, due to poor condition of the power grid.

Answering the call, Cleantech Finland member companies offered concrete solutions for India’s energy challenges. Mr Sampo Ahonen, CEO of Beneq, advocated solar energy as an energy source in areas where electricity is not available at all. In these areas, access to electricity during the daytime would already be a major improvement, and the solar radiation values in India are among the highest in the world. Beneq delivers coating equipment for improving the efficiency of photovoltaic cells.

According to Mr Matti Rae, Director of New Technologies at Ensto, the solution to electricity distribution reliability and electric network functionality is Ensto’s smart grid expertise.

Mrs Maria Paatero-Kaarnakari from Fortum presented a combined energy and heat production solution and a charging point network for electric cars, which Fortum has implemented in co-operation with the City of Espoo and Ensto.

Vacon CEO Mr Vesa Laisi presented the company’s innovations for energy efficiency – a frequency transformer that controls electric motor operation and reduces energy consumption by an average of 10%.

Summing up the gist of the meeting was Mr Santtu Hulkkonen, Cleantech Finland Program Director: ”India, its rapidly growing industry and need for energy, and its interest in renewable energy, represents huge market potential for Finnish cleantech companies, and there is a lot of need for Finnish cleantech expertise. Cleantech Finland (which arranged the meeting with Minister Abdullah) assists Finnish environmentally aware technology companies to market and communicate their competence in India”.

For more information, please contact:
Mr Sampo Ahonen, CEO, Beneq Oy
Tel: +358 40 520 1090
e-mail: sampo.ahonen(at)beneq.com

Beneq Oy, based in Finland, is a supplier of equipment and coating technology for global markets. Beneq turns innovations into success by developing applications and equipment for cleantech and renewable energy fields, especially in glass, solar and emerging thin film markets. Coating applications include optics, barriers and passivation layers, as well as energy generation and conservation. Beneq also offers complete coating services. The coating applications of Beneq are based on two enabling nanotechnology platforms: Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and aerosol coating (nHALO^® and nAERO^®). www.beneq.com

For more information about Cleantech Finland, please visit the homepage.

Beneq, nHALO and nAERO are registered trademarks of Beneq Oy.

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