John Berger (OH) and his partners Larry Bawden, Lee Arikara, and Ken Pearson founded Jadoo Power Systems to commercialize fuel cells in niche markets. With growing pressure to find new sources of energy for both ahomeland security and environmental reasons, President George W. Bush invited Jadoo to demonstrate their portable fuel cell technology.
Jadoo currently sells products that are being used to power covert surveillance cameras for law enforcement agencies and recently demonstrated a product to power TV cameras to the President.
President Bush encouraged the entrepreneurial spirit, “Keep dreaming your dreams. It’s the collective dreams of the American entrepreneurial set which really define our future for us. Here today, I’m going to say your government is not to stand in your way, but stand by your side as we blaze new paths for our country.”
Jadoo was selected along with other, much larger fuel cell companies to participate in the White House event coordinated by the Department of Energy in Washington DC. The event was organized in response to President Bush’s hydrogen economy initiative presented in the recent State of the Union speech.
John Berger is encouraged by the attention. “The current start-up environment is difficult, but we are finding that the key is to target a market that is viable for our fuel cell systems today, become profitable, and then build the company with those sales by driving into the larger, more exciting markets.”
“It is the small companies that are going to spark the needed changes in the energy industry. The challenges and opportunities of serving the world’s growing energy needs are enormous. Harvard has the chance to lead the world to a better future by changing the way people source and use energy.”
