COMMERCIALISING ‘ CLEAN ’
J2 innovations works to combine the core functionality of a building automation system ( BAS ) for connecting and controlling devices with the added benefits of a building operation sstem ( BOS ) to manage and leverage data . This makes the most of connectivity to reduce energy impact on the built environment . J2 Innovations has now been acquired by Siemens .
“ NREL helped J2 establish a virtual building that they could connect to , and then run tests . This allowed them to refine their product really quickly , and at the same time refine their value proposition to the end user ,” says Cozart .• www . j2inn . com ignored by the investment community because of that technology barrier to entry ,” Cozart explains .
COMMERCIALISING ‘ CLEAN ’
As much as we ’ d like to believe investors are going to part with hard-earned cash from sheer goodwill , the truth is that projects must be financially viable and visibly beneficial – this is where IN2 comes in , with a keen awareness of the challenges faced by early-stage ventures . “ Companies have to find the right industry connections and have to prove their product ’ s better than what ’ s being used by current or conventional methods . They have to prove their product will help a customer ’ s bottom line ,” says Cozart .
In addition , the kind of solutions IN2 focuses on – like energy storage – are often hardware-centric . “ There ’ s a perceived bias amongst a lot of investors towards softer tech ,” says Huntley . “ So , a challenge we ’ re trying to address at IN2 is how to support the hard tech – particularly when it costs time and money to be able to validate and support that effort and scale up those solutions .” In bridging the proverbial valley of death , IN2 offers support where it ’ s needed most . Of the $ 250,000 in non-dilut-
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