Cleantech Venture Challenge 2009
AND THE WINNERS ARE…CVC 2009
Graduate student business ideas representing the best of our future leaders were recognized at the 2009
Cleantech Venture Challenge. These international teams demonstrated business models, practices or technologies
with high growth potential that also provide innovative solutions, services or products in the cleantech sector.
Congratulations to:
Ecoviv founded by students from Oxford University, U.K. enables data centers to manage the power
consumption of their servers through patent-pending software resulting in lower operating expenditure and
increased resource capacity. Husk Insulation from the University of Michigan is devoted to energy efficiency
and conservation through the manufacture and deployment of high-performance insulation. Tetra One Source
out of the University of Louisville will provide effective, economical and environmentally friendly solutions to
environmental engineering companies and consultants to help reclaim two of the world’s most finite resources –
land and water. NALION Technologies from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada is commercializing
a breakthrough in Li-ion battery technology for the emerging hybrid electric and electric vehicles market.
SAVE THE DATE
COLORADO CONVENTION CENTER – DENVER, COLORADO
MARCH 17-19, 2009
The Robert H. and Beverly A. Deming Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Leeds School of Business is proud to announce the 4th annual international Cleantech Venture Challenge (CVC). A key component of the Sustainable Opportunities Summit (SOS), the 2009 CVC will be held from March 17-19th at the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver, Colorado.
Student teams are invited to submit business plans that:
- Demonstrate venture-grade, for-profit business models, practices, and/or technologies with high growth potential; and
- Provide innovative solutions, services or products in the cleantech sector that reduce environmental impacts or improve ecological sustainability.
Prizes
The prestigious G. Chris Andersen Award of $25,000 will again be awarded. The top-ranked team with a clean energy technology business plan, will be invited to present its business plan at the annual National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Industry Growth Forum in November 2009. The NREL forum is widely recognized as the premier investor venue for the clean energy industry. Investor’s Circle (IC), a network of more than 200 angel investors, professional venture capitalists, foundations, family offices and others who use private capital to promote the transition to a sustainable economy will circulate the first place team’s executive summary to investors.
Sustainable Opportunity Summit
Across the globe, countries and communities are struggling with an increasing array of economic, environmental and social challenges. A growing population with increasing economic aspirations is placing unprecedented demands on the global economy to deliver what society needs and to deliver it without the kinds of environmental degradation and social inequities we continue to see in many parts of the world. In short, we need to quickly create a more sustainable global economy.
The Sustainable Opportunities Summit, hosted by the Deming Center, the City of Denver, and CORE, will showcase the development of Denver, Colorado and the Rocky Mt. West as an emerging center of a new, more sustainable economy. At the same time, it will demonstrate that the economic opportunity associated with the sustainability challenge is indeed a global one, almost certainly the greatest opportunity presented to the world business community. Join nearly 1,000 business, political and academic colleagues from around the world, leaders in both the thinking and practices that will drive the creation of a new global economic model from Denver to Dubai to Delhi, a model that will create prosperity, preserve our environment and reduce the social inequities associated with the old way of doing things. For more information see www.sosummit.org
More Information
For more information about the Cleantech Venture Challenge competition contact:
Patty Graff at 303-735-4970 or patty.graff@colorado.edu
"Sustainability has become a perfect storm of opportunity. Business, political and economic environments are pushing companies into more environmentally responsible practices and it is affecting every area from policies to factories and fleets."
Ray Lane, Managing Partner,
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers