Squeaky Green and Clean



Nathan Doran of C-6 Systems

 Yesterday I served as a judge at the annual University of Washington Environmental Innovation Challenge.  This is my second year as a judge for this particular competition and I was very impressed with the level of quality and innovation that the seventeen featured teams brought to the competition.  There were 97 judges participating and 111 students participating in the competition.  There were teams from not only the University of Washington, but also Washington State University, Seattle Pacific University, and Western Washington University.  The entire event was very well produced by Connie Bourrassa-Shaw, who heads the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Pam Tufts and team.  Connie shared that the teams are encouraged to think about "People. Planet. Profit." when they developed their ideas.

Voltaic Team, Grand Prize Winner

The judges were asked to judge the teams on the quality of their one-page plans, their two-minute pitches, their actual displays or prototypes, and the level of impact that they would make on the world.  It is an arduous process to get around to seventeen different teams and understand more about what each is attempting to do and then to actually rate them I find incredibly difficult.  This is not a full business plan competition, so there is not a requirement that financials are included at this time which makes it harder to judge whether these will become real companies going forward.  Several did tell me that they plan to enter their teams into the upcoming UW Business Plan Competition and that they plan to raise money and build their new businesses.

C-6 Systems, Honorable Mention

The nascent entrepreneurs presented included algae biofuels, a biodiesel producer, multiple water cleansing solutions, electric cars, turning slash into cash, secure bicycle parking, a stationery bike linked with a generator, solar enhancement ideas, Lighter Than Air vehicles, lightweight affordable carbon fiber parts for vehicles, and generation of wind power at lower wind speeds.

PotaVida Team, 2nd Prize
with Connie Bourassa-Shaw

The winners of the competition included three Honorable Mention prizes of $2,500 each for Pterofit, Biotek and C-6 Systems; a $5,000 Second Prize awarded to PotaVida, and the $10,000 Grand Prize awarded to Voltaic.

I also saw several UW SEBA students who have volunteered at past ZINO Society targeted investment forums including Josh, who was part of the EnergyCycle team.  The top two EIC winners from 2010, Envitrum and WISErg were back to show the traction they had made since last year.  Impressive!

Josh, EnergyCycle Team