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MegaWatt Ventures’ Inaugural Ten Finalist Teams Announced to Compete for $100,000 Grand Prize!

Dépèche transmise le 23 mars 2011 par Business Wire

MegaWatt Ventures’ Inaugural Ten Finalist Teams Announced to Compete for $100,000 Grand Prize!

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MegaWatt Ventures, an annual University of Central Florida clean energy business competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, selected ten teams to be awarded $10,000 in their inaugural class. The selected teams will now compete for a $100,000 grand prize in September and be assigned professional mentors and gain access to business workshops, to help develop a commercially viable technology company.

The 2011 MegaWatt Venture’s finalists include: OrgSolar (Melbourne), Cyclocean (Vero Beach), RedOx Fuel Cells (Gainesville), Mud Power (St. Petersburg), Mesdi Systems (Orlando), SenNova Inc. (Orlando), Verdicorp Inc. (Tallahassee), I-Red LLC (Edgewater), Bladeworks (Melbourne) and NCAA Battery Corporation (Winter Park). While some of these companies have been involved in production or research prior to Megawatt Ventures, most were created as a result of the funding provided from becoming a finalist in this competition.

Many of the technologies are being developed in conjunction with Florida university research including programs at Florida Institute of Technology, Florida State University, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, and University of South Florida. These technologies come from several different renewable sources including cost effective photovoltaics (OrgSolar), vertical wind turbines for low wind zones (I-Red), unique wind turbine blade designs (Bladeworks), wave energy turbines (Cyclocean), oceanic microbial fuel cells (Mud Power), solid oxide fuel cells (RedOx), smart grid sensor hardware (SenNova), heat sourced generators (Verdicorp), affordable utility batteries (NCAA), and large scale energy material deposition equipment (Mesdi Systems).

These companies will compete at the MegaWatt Ventures’ showcase event, which will be held at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), a research institute of the University of Central Florida, on September 8 – 9, 2011. FSEC was created by the Florida Legislature in 1975 to conduct research, test and certify solar systems and develop education programs across a breadth of renewable energy technologies. Both the rigorous education program and competition the finalists will participate in are sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the University of Central Florida, and other energy organizations.

MegaWatt Ventures is an annual clean energy business plan competition, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the University of Central Florida, in partnership with the University of Florida, University of South Florida, Florida State University, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and the Florida Institute of Technology, encouraging technology commercialization from the lab to the marketplace. Visit www.megawattventures.com or call 407-882-0594 for details.