ACC $100K Clean Energy Challenge Open for Business (Ideas)

Entries Accepted from All Universities in the Southeastern United States COLLEGE PARK, Md - The $100K ACC Clean Energy Challenge, a new business plan competition encouraging students from all universities throughout the southeastern United States to develop business plans for new clean energy companies, is now accepting entries, competition officials announce today. The ACC Clean Energy Challenge, supported by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), invites business plans with commercialization potential in the clean energy space, including projects related to renewable energy, energy efficiency improvements and advanced fuels/vehicles. The winner of the competition will receive a $100,000 prize and compete in the DOE National Clean Energy Business Plan Finals in Washington, D.C., in summer 2012. The $100K ACC Clean Energy Challenge involves three rounds of submissions: an executive summary, business plan, and video pitch. Initial entries are due February 20, 2012. Finals will be held at the University of Maryland on April 25, 2012. The competition is open to graduate and undergraduate students actively enrolled in accredited colleges or universities in Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia. As part of the Obama Administration's effort to support and empower the next generation of American clean energy entrepreneurs, the Department of Energy awarded $360,000 for the ACC Clean Energy Challenge and a total of $2 million to the ACC and five additional regions in the U.S. as part of its inaugural nationwide network of student-focused clean energy business plan competitions over the next three years. Additional regional winners included the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Northeast Region; the California Institute of Technology in the Western Region; Rice University in the Western Southwest Region; Chicago-based Clean Energy Trust in the Eastern Midwest Region; and the University of Colorado in the Western Midwest Region. The University of Maryland's Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech) was selected as the principal lead for the Southeast competition. Interested students can find more information and enter at: www.accnrg.org. About the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech) The mission of Mtech is to educate the next generation of technology entrepreneurs, create successful technology ventures, and connect Maryland companies with university resources to help them succeed. Founded in 1983, Mtech has had a $25.7 billion impact on the Maryland economy and helped create or retain more than 5,300 jobs. Top-selling products such as MedImmune's Synagis®, which protects infants from a deadly respiratory disease, and Hughes Communications' HughesNet®, which brings satellite-based, high-speed Internet access to the world, were developed through or enhanced by our programs. Billion dollar companies such as Martek Biosciences and Digene Corporation graduated from our incubator. Mtech offers three experiential learning programs and 30 entrepreneurship and innovation courses, served to 1,244 enrollees in 2010, at the pre-college, undergraduate, graduate and executive education levels. For more information about Mtech, please visit www.mtech.umd.edu.

Melvin Wylie