U.S. Department of Energy National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition

About the Challenge

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) NationalClean Energy Business Plan Competition is designedto build regional networks of student-focused business creation contests across the country. Six regional organizations will receive a total of $2 million over three years, including $100,000 in annual prizesfor each competition’s winning team. The regional winners will then compete for the Grand Prize inDOE’s own inaugural National Competition in early summer 2012. Funded by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), the regional competitions share common objectives thatinclude creating a new generation of entrepreneurs to address the nation energy challenges and capitalizingon America’s investment in clean energy research andeducation. The National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition is part of Startup America, the Obama Administration’s campaign to inspire and promoteentrepreneurship. This initiative will provide student participants with the skills to create new businesses and transform promising energy technologies from U.S. universities and national laboratories into innovative energy products that will help to createjobs, boost American competitiveness, and strengthenour economy.

Official website and blog: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/commercialization/natlbizplan.html

The six regional competitions are:

Northeast - Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s MIT Clean Energy Prize (Cambridge, MA). The MIT Clean Energy Prize aims to combine unique competition incentives with a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem to develop regional interest and best practices and to facilitate student participation. Since 2008, DOE and Massachusetts-based utility NSTAR have supported this competition as a national event with a strong regional network of organizers, mentors, and judges. The competition will continue its successful model of accepting applications from across the country, but will focus its efforts on the Northeast as part of this award from DOE.

Southeast - University of Maryland’s Atlantic Coast Conference Clean Energy Challenge (College Park, MD). The University of Maryland’s Atlantic Coast Conference Clean Energy Challenge plans to poolstudent talent around technology and business disciplines. Southeastern schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference Clean Energy Challenge will host the competitions, which are open to applicants from across the region. The competition will match entrepreneurial students with energy innovations from academics and researchers in order to spurthe best and most promising technologies toward commercialization.

Eastern Midwest - Clean Energy Trust’s CleanEnergy Student Challenge (Chicago, IL). To accelerate the transfer of innovative ideas to the marketplace, Clean Energy Trust’s Clean Energy Student Challenge will foster partnerships between student entrepreneurs and researchers, venture capitalists, and industry leaders (from the University of Michigan, Purdue University, Washington University in St. Louis, Nortech, and Cleantech Open) that seek to connect competing teams with gamechanging technologies, expert mentors, and start-up capital.

Western Midwest - University of Colorado’s CU Cleantech New Venture Challenge (Boulder, CO). The CU Cleantech New Venture Challenge will bring together the University of Colorado –Boulder’s proven success in cleantech business plancompetitions and support from major stakeholders in renewable energy and entrepreneurship. Partner organizations include the Cleantech Open competitionand the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This competition will further distinguish Colorado and its surrounding region as a leading center for energy commercialization, student engagement, and cleantech business ecosystem development.

Western Southwest - Rice University’s Rice Business Plan Competition - DOE CleanEnergy Prize (Houston, TX). Rice University will leverage resources and infrastructure from its world-class Rice Business PlanCompetition, bolstering that contest with the DOE Clean Energy Prize. The plan for this new prize is to drive commercialization of clean energy technologies at regional universities and federal research labs, while accepting applications from around the nation.

Western - California Institute of Technology’s First Look West (Pasadena, CA). First Look West is a consortium of public and private partners in southern California, including Caltech; the University of Southern California; the University of California, Los Angeles; and the clean energy company, OnGreen Inc. This competition builds on the existing success of First Look LA and its network in the business and investment community to promote the entrepreneurial culture and community as far awayas Alaska and the Pacific territories of Guam and American Samoa.

For More InformationFor more information about the efforts to promote innovation and a new generation of energyentrepreneurs, please visit EERE’s Commercialization website: eere.energy.gov/commercialization.