Third Annual Clean Energy Venture Summit Offers Behind the Scenes Look at Smart Grid...

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Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:23pm EDT

Third Annual Clean Energy Venture Summit Offers Behind the Scenes Look at
Smart Grid Agenda

AUSTIN, Texas, June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The third annual Clean Energy Venture
Summit: Bringing the Smart Grid to Life is scheduled for October 14 and 15 at
the AT&T Executive Center, the Austin Technology Incubator Clean Energy
Incubator has announced. 

(Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090630/LA40004LOGO)

The Clean Energy Venture Summit (CEVS) will focus on technology related to the
Pecan Street Project (PSP), the largest clean energy laboratory in the United
States and a place where researchers and entrepreneurs can develop and test
their technology on the grid.

"With its tie-in to Austin's Pecan Street Project, a real-world, city-wide,
smart-grid laboratory, the Clean Energy Venture Summit is a necessary venue
for any investor who is serious about smart grid technologies," said Ned Hill,
managing partner of DFJ Mercury, a venture capital firm. "Playing to
traditional venture capital areas of expertise like telecom and Internet,
smart grid is a natural fit for venture capital investment. And with the
recognized importance of better securing and controlling the electrical power
infrastructure, we are at the very early stages of the emergence of a huge
potential market."

The day-long summit on October 15 will include a competition of 30-40 early
stage clean energy companies in five focus areas: distributed generation and
renewable energy, energy efficiency, transportation and storage, demand
management and miscellaneous. From each area, the strongest company will
emerge and compete to win overall. Summit organizers will pre-screen
participating companies based on innovation, overall market opportunity, stage
of development, intellectual property position, resource requirements,
environmental impact and potential return on investment.

"This event positions companies to take a leadership role in this growing
space," said Steve Taylor, director of North American corporate affairs at
Applied Materials. "The Pecan Street Project is one of the country's most
advanced and active energy projects, and CEVS can be the launching pad for the
companies that will convert the project's ideas into commercial products."

CEVS also presents an opportunity for networking and software companies,
including wireless mesh companies, broadband power line companies, energy
dashboard Web interface makers and software systems developers.

In addition, CEVS will host an invitation-only, pre-conference event on
October 14 for CEI-accredited investors and sponsors to get a
behind-the-scenes look at the Smart Grid agenda from the Austin Energy
technology pathway. The University of Texas at Austin Office of Technology and
Commercialization also invites them to the Austin Energy Footprint showcase,
featuring presentations by key university researchers who will highlight clean
energy and wireless solutions for distributed generation and renewable energy.

"Not only could the Pecan Street Project revolutionize the region's electric
delivery system, it has the potential to spark the country's biggest clean
tech lab," says Roger Duncan, General Manager at Austin Energy.  "This goes
beyond being an energy project.  It's an entrepreneurial and economic
development project." 

Entrepreneurs, investors and attendees can register to participate at
www.cleanenergyventuresummit.com. 

About the Austin Technology Incubator Clean Energy Incubator:
The ATI Clean Energy Incubator (CEI) provides young clean energy companies
with the resources they need to succeed and grow into self-sustaining entities
that contribute jobs to Austin and intellectual capital to the world.  Located
in Austin, Texas, CEI provides the resources and facilities necessary for
start-up companies to attract funding, aggressively compete in the free market
and turn ideas into reality.  www.ati.utexas.edu

About the Pecan Street Project
The Pecan Street Project (PSP) intends to establish the City of Austin as
America's clean energy laboratory. The overarching mission is to design and
implement an energy generation and management system that generates a power
plant's worth of power from clean sources within the city limits and delivers
it over an advanced delivery system that allows for unprecedented customer
energy management and conservation.  www.pecanstreetproject.org


SOURCE  Austin Technology Incubator Clean Energy Incubator

Melissa Rabeaux, Marketing Communications of The Austin Technology Incubator,
+1-512-305-0024, mrabeaux@ati.utexas.edu
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