va-Q-tec elected New Energy Pioneer by Bloomberg

va-Q-tec has been recognised as a New Energy Pioneer at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit 2012 in New York City. The award is given to companies which have achieved significant innovations in the field of clean energy and energy efficiency over the course of the year.

va-Q-tec specialises in vacuum insulation panels, high-performance products that insulate ten times better than conventional materials. The company was elected a New Energy Pioneer for its energy efficient “va-Q-plus” product, noted for its highly innovative use of materials.

Christopher Hoffmann, a Principal at va-Q-tec's cleantech investor Zouk Capital, and Thorsten Scheck, both members of the company's Supervisory Board, accepted the award on behalf of va-Q-tec. In his speech, Hoffmann highlighted the relevance of thermal energy savings and emphasized that industrial nations typically use 60 % of their primary energy for thermal purposes. He also revealed the global potential of the innovative "va-Q-plus" product: "va-Q-tec is a true pioneer in energy efficiency. Due to the high energy savings potential of va-Q-plus our production facilities are real energy savings plants. The annual output of one of va-Q-tec‘s plants saves as much power annually as would be produced by a 300MW power plant. And it’s much cheaper."

va-Q-tec is the first German company to have received this prestigious award. The company was founded in 2001 in Würzburg, Bavaria, and is specialized in the development and production of vacuum insulation panels (VIPs). va-Q-tec is the technology leader in this field. It sells VIPs to many corporations globally and also integrates its VIPs into high-performance packaging solutions for pharmaceutical customers. Demand for va-Q-tec’s products has been growing strongly, driven by the universal need for increased energy efficiency in everyday products and services. With over 50 patents, vast product application opportunities and a simple value proposition to customers, va-Q-tec has the potential to expand at a massive scale. In recent years, the company has grown an average of 70-100 % p.a., with a solid base of international customers across various industries.

va-Q-tec employs over 160 people and has two production sites in Germany (in Bavaria and Thuringia) as well as offices in the UK, South Korea and the US. Since 2011 va-Q-tec offers a global rental service for its temperature-controlled containers, targeting pharmaceutical and logistics companies globally. The company’s growth is supported by blue-chip investors, including BayBG, KfW, Ringpark and Zouk Capital, a leading cleantech investor based in London.

"Our versatile and energy-saving products are revolutionizing entire markets. “va-Q-tec inside” will become synonymous for highly energy efficient products containing va-Q-tec’s vacuum insulation panels. A large number of consumer products such as fridges, freezers, containers, airplanes, cars, trailers and buildings will benefit from va-Q-tec’s high performance insulation material,” said va-Q-tec’s CEO Dr Joachim Kuhn. “VIPs will provide a significant contribution to the efficient use of energy.”

The Bloomberg New Energy Finance Pioneers program identifies companies from around the world that are changing the energy landscape forever. An independent panel of industry experts from banking, academia, corporations, utilities and technology providers chose the selected winners by assessing them against three criteria: potential scale, innovation and momentum.