The Cleantech Open, a business plan competition that provides more than $1 million in prizes for early-stage clean technology startups, announced winners of its 2011 competition at its Global Forum in November.
These following five companies were the finalists, having been selected as the top company in their respective category:
- Air-Water-Waste — PK Clean, which converts the most painful form of waste into the most useful type of energy through a catalytic depolymerization process.
- Energy Efficiency — Indow Windows, which manufactures thermal window inserts that press into place on the inside of a window frame to deliver double-pane window performance at a fraction of the price.
- Green Building — Whole Trees Structures, which manufactures structural building systems made from round timber, the waste product of sustainably managed forests.
- Renewable Energy – Atmosphere Recovey, which makes unique, laser-based gas analyzer systems for efficient manufacturing and advanced energy process control.
- Smart Power — GridMobility, whose Color of the Electron™ signal technology enables business, industry, and consumers to choose electricity sources based on their personal preferences.
Atmosphere Recovery was the Grand Prize winner (and receives a $250,000 package of investment and services), with Indow Windows and PK Clean the runners-up.
Other awards were also announced including:
- 2011 National Sustainability Award winner - Indow Windows. Two runner-ups were also named: Dragonfly Solutions and Sanergy.
- 2011 Alumni Award winners – Energy Hub (which raised $14.5M in Series B financing in 2011 and has created 30 jobs) and Power Assure (which raised $13.5M in Series B financing and has created 43 jobs).
In addition, an overall winner for each region was slected, based on an aggregation of points awarded to the regional finalist teams throughout the judging process. Regional winners receive $10,000 in cash and services, which is in addition to the $20,000 in cash and services they were earlier awarded as regional finalists. The 2011 Cleantech Open regional winners are:
- California — b2u Solar
- Northeast — Arctic Sand
- North Central — Lightweight Structures
- Pacific Northwest — Indow Windows
- Rocky Mountain — Veritek Coal Processing
- South Central — CycleWood Solutions
A winner was also announced for the Global Cleantech Open Ideas Competition. This competition, now in its second year, looks to find ‘big ideas’ by working at a grassroots level and to support and foster those ideas by Cleantech Open host organizations worldwide. Produced in conjunction with the Kauffman Foundation and Global Entrepreneurship Week, startups from around the world competed in their countries for national awards; the national winners then competed at the Global Forum for a prize worth $100,000 in startup services. This year, more than 1,000 applications were submitted in countries around the world, with teams from 23 countries traveling to the Global Forum. Six teams were then selected to present to the audience:
- Biométhodes (France)
- Biofiltro (Chile)
- Black Silicon Solar (Denmark)
- Cambridge Nanotherm (UK)
- Reformtech (Sweden)
- Resolute Marine Energy (USA)
A panel of judges determined the winner: Biofiltro.
Congratulations to all winners and participants in this year's competition!