Thomas Rankin of Innovacorp has won national recognition for his work in the cleantech industry, including organizing Canada’s first global competition for cleantech entrepreneurs.

Rankin is in Toronto this week to attend the Clean50 Summit, where he has been named one of the 2012 Clean50, which recognizes 50 Canadians who have helped to develop the sustainable economy.  One of Rankin’s initiatives is the CleanTech Open contest, which is open to entrepreneurs around the world as long as the winner establishes a business in Nova Scotia.

Rankin explained earlier this week that Nova Scotia wants to find the best cleantech entrepreneurs in the world an encourage them to set up businesses in the province, so the competition is open to people with great ideas and business plans anywhere. The winner will receive $100,000 in cash, a $200,000 negotiable seed investment, mentoring, and in-kind business building services, including one-year free rent of turn-key space at the Innovacorp Enterprise Centre in Halifax. The deadline for submissions is Dec. 1 and the winner will be announced in April.

CleanTech Open is taking place while Innovacorp once again holds its I-3 competition, which awards five regional prizes of $100,000 to entrepreneurs from around the province, and another $100,000 prize to the winner among the regional finalists.

Formerly with the Nova Scotia Environment Department, Rankin joined the provincial technology commercialization agency earlier this year where he is now investment manager for cleantech.

In 2009, he was instrumental in creating the province's $25 million clean technology investment fund and helped to launch the ecoNova Scotia Fund for Clean Air and Climate Change.