The 50 Hottest Companies in Biofuels nominations open; the 30 Hottest Companies in Chemicals, too; Hot 40 debuts

PhotoVoting expanded – special bonus votes for most original artwork.

Who will be #1 – who will get your vote? 

In Florida, Biofuels Digest announced the official opening of nominations for the  50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy and 30 Hottest Companies in Biobased Chemicals and Materials, and the 40 Hottest Small Companies in the Bioeconomy.

Voting Rules

Voting will be open to all registered subscribers of The Digest and invited selectors; this year, votes may also be cast via Photo Voting.

This year, votes will be weighted as follows: 50% based on votes received from the invited Panel of Selectors; 50% based on votes received from registered subscribers of The Digest.

Nominations

You may place a company, in nomination, here. All companies that receive a nomination will be included on the ballot, along with last years’ Hot 50 and Hot 30. Nominations will remain open through Monday, August 25 at 5pm ET.

Note: No company has made it into the Rankings as a write-in. So, nomination is virtually essential for a good result.

Nominate companies here.

Company eligibility

Any company engaged as a producer, supplier, investor or partner is eligible for the Hot 30, Hot 40 and Hot 50.

To be eligible for the Hot 40, a company must have fewer than 50 employees and have revenues below $20 million.

Voting period

Voting will begin August 26th and continue through October 10, 2014 at 5pm ET.

Announcement of results at ABLCNext in San Francisco – November 10, 2014 – and gala event.

Rankings will be announced at ABLC-Next in San Francisco on November 10, 2014 at 6pm PT, and we will honor the companies, their suppliers, industrial partners, investors and team at the annual Hot Party in San Francisco.

Selector balloting

Selectors will receive their official ballots from Biofuels Digest during the week of August 26th, and must return them via email no later than 5pm ET, Friday, October 10, 2014. Selectors may cast one ballot in each each ranking competition (Hot 30 and Hot 50).

Subscriber balloting

Subscribers will receive a link to their official ballot in each e-mail newsletter issue of Biofuels Digest and Biobased Digest published between August 26, 2014 and October 10, 2014. Subscribers may cast one ballot in each each ranking competition (Hot 30 and Hot 50).

Photo Voting

This year, you may submit photos in support of your candidate company. Photo Votes will be accepted between August 26, 2014 and October 10, 2014 at 5pm ET. Each Photo Vote will count as five votes.

The photo must be an original creative work, must contain the name of the company you are voting for and the words “Hot 50” or “Hot 30” . Repetitive photos (e.g. a photo of every employee in the company, holding a “Hot 50” sign), will count for one-half of one vote.

Special bonus votes. The most original PhotoVotes of the Week will count for 200 votes — the Digest will determine the number of awards given each week, based on the flow and quality of submissions.

Photos submitted to [email protected] or [email protected] will be added to each nominee’s Voting Page at biofuelsdigest.com.

The Digest reserves the right to accept submissions for publication on the grounds of voting fairness and taste — Each photo submitted will count five votes towards a company’s totals.

Write-in votes

All companies that registered for the Hot 50 and Hot 30 Rankings are included in the Official Ballot, but if there is a deserving company that did not register for the Official Ballot, voters are welcome to cast a write-in vote for that company.

Voting criteria

Voters may judge for themselves what makes a company “hot”.

In our view, we believe that “hot” represents an ideal blend of visibility and credibility. Companies that are substantive but unknown may be credible, but they are not hot. Likewise, companies that are widely-known but hyped are visible, but not hot. Hot is not the same as “best” – nor is it the same as “popular” – and the Rankings are neither intended to be a popularity contest nor a quality rating system.

Prohibited voting practices

Voters may not attempt to spam the ballot box through deceptive practices, nor may competing companies organize spam balloting efforts. The Digest reserves the right to reflect any ballot it deems to be the product of a spamming campaign — or to cancel all ballots from that voter, or remove a company from the competition — and such a determination will be made in the Digest’s sole discretion, and its decision is final.

Prohibited voting practices include but are not limited to: creating multiple digital accounts in order to submit multiple ballots; using faked or borrowed digital accounts to submit multiple ballots in violation of daily ballot restrictions; or encouraging potential voters to create, borrow to otherwise use multiple digital accounts in order to submit multiple ballots. In general, any practice designed to prevent a fair ballot is prohibited, and may result in the suspension of a company from the Rankings or the cancellation of any and all ballots which the Digest, in its sole discretion, deems to be tainted.

Permitted voting practices

Companies or individuals may exhort colleagues, friends or the general public to vote for a deserving company – campaigning for a Hot 50 ranking is not prohibited so long as the voting itself is fair and ethical.

Voters are permitted to vote for companies they are personally, directly or indirectly, affiliated with.

Last year’s rankings

THE 50 HOTTEST COMPANIES IN BIOENERGY 2013-2014

1. Solazyme

2. LanzaTech

3. KiOR

4. Sapphire Energy

5. Gevo

6. Beta Renewables

7. POET

8. INEOS Bio

9. GranBio

10. DSM

11. DuPont Industrial Biosciences

12. Novozymes

13. Abengoa Bioenergy

14. Enerkem

15. Amyris

16. CoolPlanet Energy Systems

17. Joule Unlimited

18. Neste Oil

19. Virent

20. Ceres

21. Renewable Energy Group

22. Butamax

23. Mascoma

24. Honeywell’s UOP

25. Algenol

26. BP Biofuels

27. Sweetwater Energy

28. Fulcrum BioEnergy

29. Propel Fuels

30. ZeaChem

31. Waste Management

32. LS9

33. Elevance Renewable Sciences

34. Renmatix

35. OPX Biotechnologies

36. EdeniQ

37. American Process

38. Boeing

39. Fiberight

40. BASF

41. Codexis

42. Valero

43. Cobalt Technologies

44. Cosan

45. SG Biofuels

46. Dyadic

47. Midori Renewables

48. Coskata

49. Cellana

50. Virdia (tie)

50. Iogen (tie)

THE 30 HOTTEST COMPANIES IN BIOBASED CHEMICALS & MATERIALS
2013-2014

1 Genomatica

2 Solazyme

3 Myriant

4 Lanzatech

5 Elevance

6 Amyris

7 DSM

8 Gevo

9 Dupont

10 Novozymes

11 BASF

12 OPX Biotechnologies

13 BioAmber

14 Beta Renewables / Chemtex

15 Avantium

16 Virent

17 Renmatix

18 Braskem

19 Enerkem

20 KiOR

21 Verdezyne

22 Sweetwater Energy

23 Cobalt

24 Segetis

25 LS9

26 INEOS Bio

27 Global Bioenergies

28 Rivertop Renewables

29 Ceres

30 Midori Renewables