In preparation for this year’s Energy Leadership Summit, we’re profiling previous award winners to detail their experiences and to share what winning an Energy Leadership Award meant to them.
You can read our first profile on 2019 Chairman’s Award winner, Tom Ranken, here and our second profile on 2018 Individual Energy Leadership Award winner, Michael Pomfret, here.
Our third profile is on 2017 Individual CleanTech Vision Award winner, Virginia Emery. Virginia Emery is the Founder and CEO of Beta Hatch. Beta Hatch’s insect-rearing technology converts mealworms and their waste into high-value proteins, oils, and nutrients for agriculture. Their IP enables insects to cost-effectively meet the global scale of demand for animal feed and crop fertilizer.
Q: What did you win the award for?
A: Beta Hatch won the award for making sustainable alternative protein from insects.
Q: What did winning an award at the Energy Leadership Summit mean to you?
A: It was very valuable to be able to get early recognition for Beta Hatch and allowed us to grow the company significantly since 2017. We’ve secured further R&D funding and have been able to grow the business since winning the award. Since then, we’ve been able to deliver on parts of our vision. It was an honor to be recognized and to have developed something with value. I feel very thankful and appreciative.
Q: What was your favorite part of the Energy Leadership Summit?
A: Any time we participate in cleantech events, networking and building our business is always great. It’s very difficult to network in today’s climate with COVID-19 making physical gatherings impossible so finding ways to connect even at a distance is valuable.
Q: Do you have any advice for someone hoping to win an ELS award this year?
A: If you’re building something that you feel passionate about and has real value in the world, that’s how you get recognized. Contribute to making the world a better place and if you have a vision of how to achieve it, others will recognize that.
Q: What have you accomplished in your career that you’re proud of since winning the award?
A: Getting our flagship facility designed and starting construction. We broke ground recently and had a vison for making one of the largest insect facilities. The whole team has worked hard to make it happen and I’m so proud that we’re nearing completion.
For more information about the 2020 Energy Leadership Summit, click here.