At
the Midwest Energy Forum, Governor Pat Quinn, Clean Energy Trust (CET),
Invenergy Founder Michael Polsky and CET Executive Director Amy
Francetic presented the first place $75,000 award in the inaugural
Clean Energy Challenge business plan competition to Clean Urban Energy,
a Chicago company that ‘turns buildings into batteries’ by optimizing
the integration of commercial HVAC operations with the electric grid
and energy markets.
NextGen Solar was awarded second place
and $25,000 at the competition developed by CET to identify the most
innovative clean energy ideas in Illinois. NextGen Solar is
commercializing a three-dimensional thin-film solar technology,
invented by Richard Brotzman of Argonne National Lab. The competition
was held at the Midwest Energy Forum, an annual conference of the
Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Booth
School of Business and the Clean Energy Trust.
In
addition to the $100,000 awards for company level plans, a $30,000
business concept award was presented to Thermal Conservation
Technologies, which is producing a high-performance vacuum insulation
panel invented by its CEO and University of Illinois at Chicago
engineering professor, Alan Feinerman. The prize money will enable TCT
to receive matching Small Business Innovation Research Funds.
Building on the momentum of this largest ever Midwest Energy Forum,
Clean Energy Trust co-founder and wind developer Michael Polsky
announced the creation of the Invenergy Prize, a $10,000 award for
innovation in renewable energy. Mr. Polsky and Governor Quinn
presented the Invenergy prize to Lotus Creative Innovations for its
scaled-down version of a commercial turbine designed for workforce and
classroom training.
“Clean energy entrepreneurship is
clearly thriving in Illinois,” said Amy Francetic, Clean Energy Trust
executive director. “There is no shortage of early-stage technology
ready for the right mix of minds and money to move it out of the
laboratory and into the marketplace. These winners are the very best of the new clean energy firms in this state, and we
look forward to watching them grow into sustainable businesses.”
More than 70 early-stage companies in all aspects of clean energy
submitted applications for the Challenge. The most promising presented
their plans to a distinguished panel of nationally renowned investors,
corporation and entrepreneurs at yesterday’s Midwest Energy Forum in
Chicago. All of the Challenge finalists received mentoring and
business planning assistance from the Clean Energy Trust, which
accelerates the development of Midwest clean energy businesses by
connecting entrepreneurs, researchers and early-stage companies with
the expertise and capital to become sustainable.
Funding
for The Clean Energy Challenge was provided by the U.S. Department of
Energy, Acciona, Arcelor Mittal, City of Chicago Department of
Environment, Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, Google, Illinois
Technology Association, Invenergy, Ungaretti and Harris, University of
Chicago, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Chicago, the
Clean Energy Trust and the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship at
Chicago Booth.
Additional supporting sponsors include
Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois Institute of Technology,
Northwestern University, Kauffman Foundation and TechAmerica.
