Michael Brown is a practising economist, entrepreneur, and a 50+ -year veteran of the Vancouver venture capital community, focused on climate change issues. Mike enjoys working on the earliest stages of corporate enterprises.

Mike has co-founded two families of venture capital funds, starting 1968, which had over 100 investments. He has raised private capital for many companies, including Wardair, MDI Mobile Data, McDonald Dettwiler, Ballard Power, Cellex Power, Questair, and General Fusion. Mike has been exposed to technologies such as mobile digital wireless, optics, fuel cells, remote sensing, solar photovoltaics & heat generation, flow batteries, semiconductors, quantum computing, wind turbines, electric vehicles, CO2 capture, hydrogen production, and fusion. He has been the Director of many private and several public companies.

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Mike co-founded the IBET group in 2016 which is dedicated to starting companies that address the most significant market gaps in climate technology.

Mike has been involved in many non-commercial activities. Examples: 1990, co-founded a City of Vancouver Task Force, which published “Clouds of Change”, proposing solutions for the city’s anticipated climate issues. Director and member of Investment Committee of Sustainable Development Technology Canada, from 2001 to 2015. Mike sat on many advisory boards, such as on securities regulation, protein engineering, biological engineering, university-industry spin-offs, and the Environment Canada R & D Advisory Committee. He co-founded the Canadian Task Force on Early-Stage Funding, and Fuel Cells Canada.

 

In 2020, co-led a Canadian federal workshop on policy issues arising from PCF (Permafrost Carbon Feedback, or GHG emissions from thawing permafrost), and co-founded the PCF Innovation RoadMap project, 2021, which conducted four ground-breaking zoom Dialogues in March 2021. Participated in sessions to familiarize secondary school teachers about educating their students about climate change.

 

Background: BA (Hons Economics), UBC, 1960 (University Medal in Arts & Science); BA (PPE, Oxon, 1962 (Rhodes Scholar)). Officer, Canadian Army. Gold Medal, Investment Dealers Assn of Canada, 1965. Entrepreneur of the Year, BC Technology Industry Association. Member, Order of Canada. Age: 83. Many grandchildren.