The Green Light Distrikt was started by Chris Williams in 2009. Initially, it started as a personal blog, as more writers joined it quickly morphed into a blog about the Boston cleantech industry. Now, Green Light Distrikt is a blog dedicated to entreupreneurship in the cleantech industry in clusters across the globe. It’s edited by Chris Williams, that’s me, with frequent posts from industry insiders. Chris and the gang write about three things.

1. Entrepreneurship in Cleantech. Simply put, how to build profitable companies in the cleantech industry. There are technical, market, policy and legal issues that need to be addressed to build profitable companies. We know their’s a huge problem, it seems like a large and profitable opportunity, but it’s going to take a lot of trail and error (and sharing those learnings) to figure out the solution.

2. Cleantech Product Development. Slightly different then building a company, product development involves technical product development and customer development. Cleantech companies tend to have two things in common, their products are expensive to build and the customers have longish sales cycles. Thus, focusing on product development is critical to the success of the industry.

3. Research and Cluster Analysis. Cleantech by it’s very nature is driven by policy and local market conditions. This makes it a very regionalized industry with large differences in activity between clusters. Thus, it’s important for entrepreneurs to understand the different between clusters.

“Hitchhikers Guide to Cleantech”

The first product we’re create to perform research, provide cluster analysis and also to be a resource for cleantech entrepreneurs is called the “Hitchhikers Guide to Cleantech”. The goal is to gather simple but useful data about clusters for entrepreneurs. Read more information on the project here. 

What We Want

It’s pretty simple, we want what everyone else wants: We want 100% renewable energy. We don’t want to drink toxic water or breathe disgusting air. We’re actually really selfish. We don’t want clothes made from slaves or 13 year old children. We want to know that our food or clothes are not covered in carcinogens.

Here’s what make us different; we know that we’re part of the solution and we believe that building profitable companies are important part of the solution. We’re creating the answers ourselves, but we can’t do it alone. We must collaborate, both to increase our influence and power but to sustain our passion and energy.

Green Light Distrikt will provide a place, both online and offline where entrepreneurs can share stories and learn from one another and form the long term friendships that will be needed to accelerate cleantech adoption.

Here are the principles that guide Green Light Distrikt.

1. Friendship. We make friends, we don’t network. Networking focuses on the utilitarian benefit of a human relationship. We believe every relationship is valuable in and of itself.
2. Online AND Offline Interaction. We believe in online AND offline interaction. Everyones gettin’ a little crazy about social media. It’s important, but nothing replaces real life, face to face interactions. We believe to unite the young community we need to form actual relationships but can nurture and maintain them while collaborating online. There are a lot of good blogs, and a lot of good events, but none that do them well together.
3. Not News. We’re not journalists nor a news source. Journalists have their place, but they mainly write for the general public. We write for each other.
4. Learning from Experts. Being young is cool, but we also know older mentors are invaluable and we have a lot to learn from them.
5. Connecting Cleantech Hubs. We’ve starting Green Light Distrikts in multiple cities, so that we can share information between cities. Each city has its specialty that will be useful in the green world. We live in flat world. This means, you can’t be pigenholed in your own city but need to communicate and collaborating with thought leaders in other cities.

GLD UK

In early 2011 the first international cluster of GLD was founded in the London, UK. GLD UK is being driven forward by James Byrne and George Phillips, they are currently trying to build up traction in the UK and establish a regular event schedule based in London. If you are based in the UK please don’t hesitate to contact James or George through admin@thegreenlightdistrikt.co.uk

Want to get involved?

That’s awesome! If you have any ideas, want to write, start a chapter in your city, contact me, tell me your ideas and what you’re interested in. I look forward to hearing from you.