Last week, Fremont hosted the Cleantech Open’s 2014 Western Regional Awards for the second year in a row. The two-day event was packed with innovative ideas, riveting speakers, comments from thought leaders, stimulating discussions, and tours of Fremont-based cleantech companies, including GenZe (pictured below), Oorja, and RETC.

Co-sponsored by the City of Fremont, OpTerra and the Fremont Marriott Silicon Valley, the event brought together more than 230 bright-minded cleantech innovators and 30+ cleantech startups from across the western region, including some Fremont locals.

In case you missed it, here are some of the highlights from the event:

1. The morning keynote was delivered by Mike Biddle, a self-proclaimed “plastics nerd” and President and Founder of MBA Polymers, Inc., a leader in post-consumer recycled plastics. With 600 billion pounds of plastic consumed every year, Biddle urged the audience to help change the conventional wisdom of plastics disposal, closing with one of his favorite quotes from Alan Kay –

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”

2. The first of two panel discussions focused on how cities and entrepreneurs can work together to achieve sustainability goals. Without the proper infrastructure and planning in place, cities can often be viewed as part of the problem when it comes to sustainability. The panelists urged cities, especially motivated ‘Tier 2’ cities, to become part of the solution.

3. The second panel focused on the increasingly rich resources that are available to early-stage entrepreneurs in the clean tech space. The panel featured key insights from venture capitalists, accelerators, and incubators whose sole mission is to help cleantech entrepreneurs succeed.

4. The afternoon’s keynote was delivered by Greg Horowitt, Co-founder and Managing Director of Silicon Valley’s T2 Venture Capital, as well as author of The Rainforest: The Secrets to Building the Next Silicon Valley. A “renaissance man” with degrees in music, biochemistry and economics, Greg talked about innovation and what it takes to be a great storyteller: painting a compelling picture of the future, and showing how other people fit into that picture.

5. A BIG congratulations to the final four contestants: Maxout Renewables, Dragonfly Energy, Axiom Exergy (pictured below) and BlueMorphUV! They are headed to Cleantech Open’s November Global Forum event at Treasure Island, where they will have the chance to compete for the prize of $200,000 and the title of 2014 Cleantech Open champion.

As host to the Cleantech Open Western Regional Awards for a second year running, it’s inspiring to see the advancements made by so many of the participating companies from such a wide spectrum of technologies. We look forward to collaborating with this new group of entrepreneurs and can only imagine what bright, new innovations lie ahead.