Whether it is wind, solar, biomass or hydro, entrepreneurs and developers in this space have to be versatile when it comes to going out into the market to source capital.

With venture capital, private equity and the investment bank community providing a large amount of this, GrowthBusiness is again hosting its annual New Energy & Cleantech Forum.

It offers businesses in the cleantech and clean energy sectors the opportunity to present before a room of VCs, private equity investors, business angels, crowdfunding platforms and investment bank members.

With each company afforded 15 minutes to present and pitch, businesses can forgo the need to arrange a large number of meetings and bring a wide investment audience up to speed on commercial development, new products and future plans.

The forum is being kicked off by head of innovation for the Department of Energy & Climate Change Ian Ellington and will feature presentations from the likes of Fullsun Photovoltaics and Oxford Photovoltaics.

After company presentations, the floor will be opened up to a floor also including fellow entrepreneurs and business advisors for a question and answer session to find out more about the firm.

The event is a prelude to the evening’s activities which will see the great and good of the renewables, clean energy and green technologies market recognised at the New Energy & Cleantech Awards.

More on the New Energy & Cleantech Awards:

• James McKenzie scoops Entrepreneur of the Year
• Customer business model important for mainstreaming cleantech

Accolades on the night will include Innovator of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, New Energy Champion of the Year and University Spin-out of the Year. Last year the standout winner was Ecology Building Society, which scooped Financier of the Year and the overall Company of the Year honours.

Winners from previous years range from investors Foresight Group and Oxford Capital Partners to innovative cleantech companies such as Nujira, Zenex and PhotonStar.

In an era when the current business climate and changing attitude towards renewables makes it hard work for entrepreneurs to build businesses and backers to secure a return from investments, the awards take stock of what has been achieved during the last year from a market which is striving to create a better tomorrow, today.