Venture Capitalist Vinod Khosla and Elizabeth Littlefield, CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corp., will give the keynote speeches at the eighth annual Berkeley-Stanford Cleantech Conference from 9:45 a.m. to 7 p.m. April 12 at Stanford University.
This year's keynote theme is "Leaping Forward: Business Opportunities for Cleantech in Emerging Markets." President Barak Obama appointed Littlefield CEO and president of the Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC), which is the U.S. government's development finance institution. OPIC's mission is to solve critical world problems by catalyzing markets in developing nations through finance innovations that help US. businesses enter, grow, and compete in emerging markets.
Khosla is a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and entrepreneur who founded Daisy Systems and Sun Microsystems. In 1986 he joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and then in 2004 founded Khosla Funds in order to be more experimental, fund sometimes imprudent "science experiments," and take on both for-profit and social-impact ventures.
Other confirmed participants at the conference include Ashok Gadgil, director, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories; Julian Wong, former Department of Energy adviser; and Michael Kobori, VP of supply chain social and environmental sustainability, Levi Strauss & Co.
In addition to the keynotes, the event will feature three panels covering the design of innovative new products, policy and financing barriers facing large-scale market entrants, and the sustainability of the material value chain. A networking reception for attendees and panelists will follow the panels..
The conference is a joint effort between the Berkeley Energy & Resources Collaborative and Stanford Energy Club. Early-bird registration prices are available until April 4. For more information, visit bscc8.org.