There's nothing like a little bit of money to get the creative juices flowing. That's the idea behind the new Clean Energy Prize, an award focused on driving development of new clean energy concepts.
The University of Michigan and DTE Energy are heading up an entrepreneurial competition that challenges teams from Michigan's institutions of higher learning to develop the best plan for bringing new clean-energy technologies to market.
"Our goal is to drive promising clean energy ideas and technologies from the research lab to commercialization," says DTE Energy Chairman and CEO Anthony F. Earley Jr.
The contest requires that teams focus on business ideas that support renewable energy, energy efficiency, environmental control technologies and energy storage. A panel of judges from the venture capital, business, industry and academic communities will choose the winners.
The first awards for the competition will go out next spring. The prize pool for the first year will be $100,000 and $200,000 for each year after that. Other competition details are still being finalized, but the initial competition will be held this fall.
The prize will help the winning teams develop businesses that can contribute to Michigan's emerging role as a leader in clean energy technologies
Source: DTE Energy
Writer: Jon Zemke
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