Teams stand to win thousands for energy entrepreneur ideas

Teams including entrepreneurial students from Duke are getting ready to show off at two competitions that will highlight their energy business ideas, help them develop partnerships and, potentially, bring them thousands of dollars in prizes.

The Duke Start-Up Challenge, founded in 1999, has for the past four years featured a Clean Energy Track. The winner of that track may go on to compete in the separate ACC Clean Energy Challenge, a competition funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and open to all schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Winners of both events will be decided in April, with the Duke Start-Up Challenge handing out a $50,000 grand prize -- plus another $10,000 for the Clean Energy Track winner -- and the ACC Clean Energy Challenge presenting a $100,000 prize. The Duke University Energy Initiative co-sponsors the Clean Energy Track prize in the Duke Start-Up Challenge.

The Duke Start-Up Challenge includes an elevator pitch competition in November, an executive summary competition in February, a business plan competition in March and the grand finale on Friday, April 12, at a 6 p.m. public event at the Fuqua School of Business.

The Clean Energy Track was narrowed in February from 12 entrants to six finalists that will compete in Round 2 for the $50,000 Grand Prize, as well as the $10,000 track prize.

The Clean Energy Track winner will be announced in time to compete in the $100,000 ACC Clean Energy Challenge, a one-day event on Tuesday, April 9, at McKimmon Center at the North Carolina State University in Raleigh. (If the Clean Energy Track winner fails to meet the ACC Challenge's entry requirements, another qualifying track competitor will move on to the Raleigh competition.)

The ACC Clean Energy Challenge is a business plan competition encouraging students from all universities throughout the southeastern United States to develop business plans for new clean energy companies. The ACC Clean Energy Challenge targets and is open to all ACC schools, as well as other universities in the southeastern United States.

The Challenge is supported by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and includes projects related to renewable energy, energy efficiency improvements and advanced fuels/vehicles. In addition to collecting the $100,000 prize, the winner will compete in the DOE's second annual National Competition Event of the National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition held in Washington in mid-June.