Process

The question we seek to answer: according to the world’s cleantech community, which 100 private companies today are most likely to make significant market impact over the next five to ten years? We answer this question in three phases.

Phase 1: Nominations

Nominations come from five sources:

1. The Expert Panel of 81 investor and multi-national corporation representatives
2. Our i3 platform tracking the investment and partnership history of thousands of relevant companies
3. Over 70 third-party awards where expert assessment has been applied
4. Our sector analysts
5. The global ecosystem (i3connect.com/gct100/nominate)

Phase 2: Evaluation

Since our aim is to objectively synthesize and represent consensus, nominations are scored in a system rewarding companies that have multiple validations from our nomination sources. From this, a shortlist is created and sent to our panel of 86 industry experts comprised of investor and multi-national corporation representatives. The panel votes positively or negatively based on their knowledge of the company’s innovation, market and ability to execute.

Phase 3: The Final 100

A combination of data from Phase I and Phase 2 are pooled and adjusted for geographic or other biases. Companies with the highest points overall make it to the final 100.