Commercializing Swiss Energy Technologies. Villigen / Zeist, July 10, 2003 Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), the leading Swiss national energy research centre, and Planet Capital Management, a venture capital firm from the Netherlands, have announced today that they have concluded an agreement to commercialize the energy technologies developed at PSI. Planet Capital Management will evaluate the energy technologies created at PSI on an initial, exclusive basis, so as to determine the opportunities for commercialization. Subsequently, Planet Capital Management will arrange for financing and assist in establishing the commercial spin-offs based on PSI technology. At PSI, energy research is concentrated on themes that contribute to a globally sustainable use of energy. This includes the development of technologies for the use of renewable energy, energy storage and energy conversion, including low-emission combustion and fuel cells as efficient zero-emission converters. PSI can optimally employ the multi-disciplinary nature of its research potential and its particular expertise, experience, and professionalism in the construction and operation of complex research installations. With a staff of over 1,200 people and an annual budget of €170 million, PSI has developed a portfolio of proprietary technologies and patents of which some are ready to be commercialised through spin-out companies. Planet Capital Management is a venture capital firm that focuses on investments in: • renewable energy systems (including wind, solar, water, biomass) • decentralized generation systems (including fuel cells, micro-turbines, storage technologies) • demand-side efficiency (including energy efficiency, energy and buildings, conversion). Planet Capital is a fund that is being established to provide equity capital to sustainable energy ventures, including early stages of commercialization of energy technology and services. During the last year, Planet Capital Management was involved as a shareholder in InDEC B.V., a Dutch fuel cell company. H.C. Starck, a subsidiary of Bayer AG, acquired the majority of the shares, in line with their strategy to forward integrate into this promising market. Albert Fischer, Managing Partner of Planet Capital stated: "On the basis of this agreement we will use venture capital to commercialize promising energy technology of PSI." Prof. Dr. Ralph Eichler, Director of PSI commented that "this agreement emphasizes the role that PSI intends to play in society and the importance it attaches to the adoption of the developed technologies. At PSI we already spun out innovative companies such as Effcel, SustainServ, Mednetix, SwissNeutronics and others". Further information please contact: Paul Scherrer Institut www.psi.ch Dr. Philipp Dietrich, Head Technology Transfer CH-5232 Villigen PSI Switzerland Tel. +41-(0)56 310 45 73 Email: philipp.dietrich@psi.ch Planet Capital Management www.planetcapital.nl Dr. Albert Fischer Managing Partner Bergweg 171, 3707 AC Zeist The Netherlands Tel. +31-30-6668318 Email: albert@planetcapital.nl             Home | About us | Entrepreneurs | Links | Press releases | Contact