One of the biggest opportunities to put your best foot forward as a new clean tech start-up is to be a finalist in the California Clean Tech Open. The business plan competition is a spring board into the attention needed to generate funding for a project to get it off the ground. Past finalists have been able to rustle up over $70 million in VC funding over the last two years. And while statistics show that 90% of new businesses fail in their first year, a huge 84% of CCTO alumni are still viable businesses, proving the significant weight the competition holds. There are six categories a finalist can call under – Air, Water & Waste; Energy Efficiency’ Green Building; Renewables; Smart Power; and Transportation. All categories are broad enough to catch the incredible creativity of entrants. Over 100 Executive Summaries were submitted, but only 44 made the cut. And the nominees are:
Air, Water & Waste category – Prize Co-Sponsor Grundfos
- Clean Coal Inc.: “Removes contaminants from coal”
- Over the Moon Diapers: “High performance reusable diapers and service network”
- Porifera: “Carbon nanotube membrane for reverse osmosis desalination”
- PURE-T: “Salt free water softener using nanobeads”
- Purite: “Zero-energy chemical-free whole house water filtration”
- SequesCO: “Microbial CO2 capture and conversion to biofuel”
- Waste Water Works (WWW): “Microbial wastewater treatment also generates electricity”
Energy Efficiency category – Prize Sponsors PG&E, SCE and SDG&E:
- Atomic Precision Systems Inc.: “New semiconductor process for ultra-cheap LED lighting”
- Enovative Group: “Smart pump for hot water circulation”
- NexChem: “Energy-saving process improvement for zinc galvanizing”
- Transoptic: “Solar energy assistance for conventional water heaters”
- Viridis Earth: “Domestic HVAC retrofit to improve efficiency”
- WicKool: “Energy efficient water recovery for existing rooftop air conditioning”
Green Building category:
- BottleStone: “Ceramic stone countertops include 80% recycled glass”
- en-vis-age: “Green, modular and customizable buildings”
- Green Design Systems: “Straw wall building panels”
- GreenHomeAnswers.com: “Home improvement website for green products and services”
- GroundSource: “Residential geothermal system with installation services”
- ISTN: “Eco-friendly building insulation”
- Parco Homes: “Manufactured green (zero net energy) home kits”
- Solar Red: “Low cost rooftop PV installation system and components”
- Team Wawa: “Water-conserving shower system”
Renewables category – Prize Sponsors Google, PG&E, and SCE:
- Covalent Solar: “Organic thin film solar concentrators”
- Focal Point Energy: “Solar thermal water heater for industrial processes”
- IEM Applications: “Landfill methane accelerated recovery”
- Renewable Fuel Technologies: “Agricultural waste biomass converted to Green Coal”
- Solar Ice: “Solar powered ice maker”
- Solindis: “Optical solar concentrator for thin film PV”
Smart Power category – Prize Sponsors AMD and Siemens TTB:
- 1ARC Energy: “Higher capacity lithium-ion batteries”
- Cooler: “Carbon calculator to allow B2B targeted advertising in LOHAS”
- Energy Empowered: “Home display and control to reduce standby power usage”
- Enverity Corporation: “Greenhouse gas tracking and compliance”
- Power Assure: “Data center energy management software service”
- Renewable Voltage: “Treats organic waste to provide hydrogen and energy storage”
- Tangerine Network Devices: “Home energy display and control”
Transportation category – Prize Sponsor Lexus:
- AAA Fleets:“Turnkey electric vehicles and solar charging systems for fleets”
- E-Chargers: “Plug-in hybrid charging station”
- ElectraDrive: “Gas to electric drivetrain auto conversion”
- Electric Drive Research: “Plug-in/gas hybrid 2 person, 3 wheel sports car”
- ElectronVault, Inc.: “More efficient traction battery for hybrids”
- Enhanced Vehicle Acoustics: “Flexible engine sound generator for quiet cars”
- FuelMotion: “Series hybrid conversions for the developing world”
- Goose Networks: “Hosted dynamic scheduler for carpools/vanpools”
- Philo Fuel: “GPS-based audiovisual cues to help drivers optimize fuel efficiency”
The finalists compete for a "Start-Up in a Box" prize package worth $100,000. The package provides essentials that help the projects move from concept to full-blown business – no small beans! We’ll find out the winners on November 6, 2008. Stay tuned.
Thanks to Earth2Tech for the great coverage and the image.
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