Open to all United States university graduate and undergraduate students
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(Business Wire)--
The MIT Clean Energy Prize (MIT CEP) organizing team today announced a $200,000
grand prize to be awarded in May 2010 for the most innovative clean energy
solution. This third annual venture creation competition is open to graduate and
undergraduate students across the United States.
Deadline for applications is February 25, 2010. Teams that make it into the
semifinals will receive one-on-one mentoring from experienced industry leaders
and entrepreneurs.
The competition has proven to be a launching pad for clean energy companies. The
2008 Grand Prize Winner FloDesign Wind Turbine and 2009 Energy Efficiency and
Infrastructure semifinalist FastCAP Systems recently were awarded more than $13
million by the Department of Energy`s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy
(ARPA-E).
Stanley Kowalski III, CEO of FloDesign Wind Turbine, says the competition made
all the difference in his team being able to successfully launch a clean energy
business. "The MIT CEP competition was great practice for prime time," he says.
"By the time we had completed the mentoring and training, we had a clear and
concise message that earned us multiple VC term sheets. We are eternally
grateful to MIT CEP and our mentors."
The competition is organized into five tracks: Energy Efficiency &
Infrastructure; Renewables; Clean Non-Renewables; Transportation; and
Deployment. Competitors from previous years have developed products or
technologies that promote, enhance or advance diversity of supply sources or
transmission; promote efficiency in resource use; and those that lead to
reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Panels comprised of venture capitalists, policy experts, CEOs, and prominent
academics will oversee the judging. According to the guidelines, all funds
awarded must be used solely towards the launch of a new business, and the
resulting company to grow out of the winning idea must be established in the
United States.
"President Obama, who spoke at MIT in October, encouraged the Institute and the
country to play a leadership role in developing clean energy," says Janet Lin,
MIT Sloan MBA 2010 and co-managing director of the Clean Energy Prize. "The MIT
CEP is a platform designed to help students catapult their ideas to the next
level and bring them into the marketplace, creating more jobs and a greener
environment in the process."
MIT CEP is organized and run by students enrolled in MIT`s science and
engineering schools as well as those from MIT Sloan School of Management. The
$200,000 grand prize funding for the award is provided by NSTAR and the United
States Department of Energy.
MIT CEP is affiliated with MIT`s $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. Since its
launch in 1989, the MIT $100K has facilitated the birth of approximately 120
companies with aggregate exit values of $2.5 billion captured and a market cap
of over $10 billion. These companies have generated approximately 2,500 jobs and
received $600 million dollars in venture capital funding.
For more information and to submit an application, please visit www.mitcep.org.
MIT Sloan School of Management
Paul Denning, 617-253-0576
Director of Media Relations
denning@mit.edu
or
Patricia Favreau, 617-253-3492
Assistant Director of Media Relations
pfavreau@mit.edu
Copyright Business Wire 2009
