Entrepreneurs from Brazil, China, India, Denmark, Israel, Italy and New Zealand are flocking to the clean tech competition.
Money may be tight for aspiring cleantech entrepreneurs during a downturn, but they will get money and precious attention next Tuesday for their ideas in an event in California billed as the mother of all clean technology business competitions.
American startups will be competing for the grand $2, 50, 000 prize in the “Cleantech Open Business Plan” competition, while entrepreneurs from the rest of the world will face-off in the “Global Cleantech Open Ideas” competition organised by the Kauffman Foundation. Both contests will wrap up at the clean technology awards gala at the elegant Masonic Center in San Francisco on November 17.
“Everybody understands that the fight against global warming is the one fight we can’t lose,” said Steve Westly, a cleantech venture capitalist, who will give the keynote address during the gala. “It’s the challenge of our generation. It’s exciting, and the stakes couldn’t be higher”.
Entrepreneurs from Brazil, China, India, Denmark, Israel, Italy and New Zealand are flocking to the clean tech competition. Finalists will get a chance to make a five-minute pitch for a green technology, product or marketing campaign in front of a crowd of 3,000 investors, entrepreneurs, and companies.
The gala attendees, including Google green energy czar Bill Weihl, famed venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and other investors will then vote via text message for their favourite idea. The “People’s Choice” winners will walk away with $100,000 in marketing, legal and business services for jump-starting their company.
“Just like the TechCrunch50, this bakeoff will let people with big ideas present in front of a high-powered panel of experts and vie for startup-funding and other assistance,” said Vivek Wadhwa who is director of research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University. Cleantech Open is the world’s largest clean technology business competition. Since 2006, it has helped alumni contestants raise over $130 million in private capital for their green ideas and technologies.
“We believe that big ideas from innovative entrepreneurs will help solve many of today’s most pressing energy, environmental and economic problems,” said Rex Northen, executive director of the non-profit Cleantech Open.
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