Why Florida's Cleantech enterprise stimulus ownership will fail

Fueled by federal stimulus money, Florida is looking to pour millions of dollars into businesses that “go green” in a major way — but there are some strings attached to it.

In the first known program of its kind, the state plans to use $36 million in stimulus cash from the U.S. Department of Energy to invest directly in businesses that adopt energy-efficient practices to cut costs and create jobs.

Milcom Venture Partners

based Winter Park

Florida Opportunity Fund

The state turned that competitive process over to the Florida Opportunity Fund, a state-sponsored venture capital fund organized in 2008 to attract professional investment firms to the state.

The opportunity fund, which is co-managed by Winter Park-based Milcom Venture Partners, has awarded $23 million to a half-dozen professional venture capital firms since early 2009.

Earlier this year, the state expanded the fund’s responsibilities to include managing the clean-technology program.

Florida turned to the opportunity fund for the clean-tech program because it requires the skills of a venture capital firm in evaluating and identifying strong companies, said Louis Laubscher, chief operating officer of Enterprise Florida, the state’s public-private economic development arm.

No giveaway program, no grants ?

Florida’s latest use of the stimulus money is no giveaway program, according to the Florida Energy & Climate Commission, which approved the so-called Clean Energy Investment Program.