ECOMAGINATION CONTEST 2010 – GENERAL ELECTRIC CO.

GE’s Ecomagination Challenge: Powering the Grid is an open call to action for businesses,
entrepreneurs, innovators and students seeking breakthrough ideas to create a cleaner, more efficient and economically viable grid, and accelerate the adoption of smart grid technologies.

The Challenge invites people to come together to take on one of the world’s toughest challenges – building the next-generation power grid to meet the needs of the 21st century. Selected Ecomagination Challenge entrants will be offered the opportunity to develop a commercial relationship with GE through:

Investment: the $200 million capital pledge of GE and its partners will be invested globally into promising start-ups and ideas.
Validation: evaluation of entrant’s business strategy through in-depth discussions with GE‘s technical and commercial teams
Distribution: exploration of partnership opportunities with GE to scale a business and create global reach.
Development: leveraging of GE‘s technical infrastructure and GE Global Research Centers to accelerate technology and product development.
Growth: exploration of opportunities for utilizing existing GE customer relationships for your go-to-market strategy.

The Challenge, launched in collaboration with leading venture capital firms RockPort Capital, KPCB , Foundation Capital, and Emerald Technology Ventures and with Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Wiredmagazine is part of GE’s ecomagination initiative, a global commitment to build innovative clean energy technologies and will help fund the most promising ideas.

Submitting an Idea : After registering, you may enter as many ideas as you wish in the three categories: Renewables, Grid Efficiency and Eco Homes/Eco Buildings between July 13 and September 30, 2010.

Your entry must include a clear, detailed proposal describing an innovative, original smart grid technology. Please use English for your entry. Let us know if you have already filed a patent application or received a patent on any part of your entry. We’d also like to know about you, your team, and how you came up with the idea. A video is optional but a simple photo of you, your organization or your team is required.

Awards : The entry receiving the most user-submitted votes, will receive, subject to GE’s review for appropriate content, a cash award of $50,000. GE will present each of five innovation challenge award recipients with $100,000 in cash, for a total of $500,000, to acknowledge these entries as examples of outstanding entrepreneurship and innovation. Judges may also award one or more entrant:
GE Scientific Merit Award to work with the GRC
The evaluation committee will consider one or more of the following for selected entrants:
An equity investment by GE or others
A cooperative agreement to develop a product or technology
A review of your product or service for possible qualification to be a part of the GE Ecomagination program.

Participation : Any individual 18 years old or older can participate, as can any organization, except a bankrupt person or organization and/or a criminal offender under any national penal system. (GE employees are not eligible to enter.) If you are participating as a team, one designated team leader must be solely responsible for all activities related to the competition.

Contact : ecomagination.challenge(AT)ge.com

Source : http://challenge.ecomagination.com/ct/g.bix?c=ideas