California Clean Tech Open Concludes Successful Call for Contestants; Inaugural Contest Already the Largest of Its Kind.SAN FRANCISCO -- The California Clean Tech Open, a competition that will award cash and service prizes valued at $500,000 to develop environmentally conscious technology, announced that it has concluded a highly successful application period. The inaugural contest accepted executive summaries from 155 teams, with 71 percent of the applicants based in California. The overwhelming response from applicants -- a strong indication of the rising national interest in the category -- makes the California Clean Tech Open the largest clean tech business plan competition ever undertaken. Contestants submitted applications that included an executive summary of a business concept falling into one of five "clean technology" categories: energy efficiency, smart power, transportation, water management and renewable energy. Renewable energy submissions comprised 38 percent of the entries, while transportation represented 27 percent, energy efficiency and smart power 25 percent and water management 10 percent. Only 11 percent of the submissions came from university students and the balance from professional businesses, engineers and entrepreneurs. Judges are now in the process of selecting finalists from each category, who will be asked to develop complete business plans. About The California Clean Tech Open The mission of the California Clean Tech Open is to encourage the development of clean technology companies that foster a healthy natural environment -- companies that provide environmental benefits in the areas of renewable energy, energy efficiency, pollution reduction and resource protection, and conservation. The competition will also serve as a platform to educate the public, as well as the participants, about the environmental challenges we face and new technologies that can provide solutions to those challenges. The inaugural competition opens in April 2006, and winners will be announced in September at a finals event in the Bay Area. The best plan submitted from five categories -- Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Smart Power, Transportation, and Water Management -- will be awarded a bundle of prizes to create a sustainable business. Prize sponsors to date include: Energy Efficiency -- Pacific Gas and Electric Company
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) , (NYSE: PCG), is the utility that provides natural gas and electricity to most of Northern California. , Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 11 million people with electricity. , Southern California Gas Company, and San Diego Gas and Electric; Smart Power -- AMD; Transportation -- Lexus; Water Management -- Agora Foundation, led by President Wynnette LaBrosse. The competition was initiated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at Cambridge; coeducational; chartered 1861, opened 1865 in Boston, moved 1916. It has long been recognized as an outstanding technological institute and its Sloan School of Management has notable programs in business, Club of Northern California (MITCNC) with charter partners Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Horn Murdock Cole, A&R Partners, and Plug & Play Real Estate. A group of entrepreneurs and technologists from Silicon Valley -- Derry and Charlene Kabcenell, Mark Farley, Frank H. Levinson, Geoff Ralston, and Michael and Amy Santullo -- have generously provided the charter funding to launch the competition. The 2006 Host City is the City of San Francisco
(body) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - (LLNL) A research organaisatin operated by the University of California under a contract with the US Department of Energy. , Palo Alto Research Center Palo Alto Research Center - XEROX PARC , SRI International, and Technology Ventures Corporation. Competition partners include Clean Edge and Clean Tech Venture Network. University partners include: the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley is a public research university located in Berkeley, California, United States. Commonly referred to as UC Berkeley, Berkeley and Cal ; Berkeley Institute for the Environment; UC Davis Connect; the San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU), founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area (generally the City and County of San Diego), and is part of the California State University system. Center for Energy Studies; Business Association of Stanford Engineering Students BASES is one of the largest student entrepreneurship organizations in the United States. This non-profit, student-run organization was founded in 1996 by a group of five Stanford University engineering students. ; Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University; Stanford Graduate School of Business The Stanford Graduate School of Business (also known as Stanford Business School or Stanford GSB) is one of the professional schools of Stanford University, in Stanford, California. It is one of the leading business schools in the United States. Environmental Management Club; and Stanford Graduate School of Business Energy Club. Competition supporters include California Clean Energy Fund, Environmental Entrepreneurs, CalPERS, and Natural Resources Defense Council The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a New York City-based, non-profit non-partisan international environmental advocacy group, with offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Beijing. Founded in 1970, NRDC today has 1. . The competition co-chairs are Laurent Pacalin and Michael Santullo. Acterra: Action for a Sustainable Earth, a California 501(c)3 non-profit public benefit corporation (Tax ID 23-7064937) is the administrative and fiscal sponsor of the 2006 California Clean Tech Open legally responsible for the activities of the competition. Acterra is located at 3921 East Bayshore Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303-4303. Additional details about the program are available at www.CaCleanTech.com. |
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