Univ. teams to compete for energy grants

This university will soon be sending new teams to face off against its ACC rivals: groups of entrepreneurs presenting business plans for environmentally friendly companies, seeking $300,000 in prizes from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The DOE announced Tuesday it selected this university as a regional leader, along with five other schools nationwide, in the National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition.

Unlike nearly all the other selected universities, the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute plans to draw on as much participation and expertise from other regional schools as possible; officials said participating could boost the school's prestige, help students network and even lead to research breakthroughs.

"Our thought was, you look at the ACC in the sports world, we often see some of the most amazing performances and incredible achievements in sports," said Dean Chang, the director of Mtech business venture programs. "What if we could borrow that effect and put it towards tackling our country's toughest problems like clean energy?"

Moving forward in the competition, the institute will compete against all of the ACC schools in the southeast region — including Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, N.C. State, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest — and collaborate with nine engineering school deans, students, faculty and researchers on the campus.

According to the program summary, teams will participate in year-round workshops, meetups and sessions.

At each of the three annual competitions, teams of university students, researchers and members of the surrounding community will submit an executive summary and business plan online to their university to move on to the regional event.

This year's regional competition will be held on the campus with a prize of $100,000 for the winner; an additional $20,000 each year in federal funding covers the cost of running the competitions. This summer, the winners in each of the six national regions will then face off in Washington for a grand prize, which the Department of Energy did not identify in its press release.

University officials said the Department of Energy trusted Mtech to lead the competition in its region because of the research center's track record.

"Our concept for our region sort of captured the imagination of the Department of Energy," Chang said.

Mtech has contributed an estimated $25.7 billion to the state's economy and produced two companies on the Inc. 500 list — a measure of fastest-growing businesses — according to Chang.

"I think it's sort of further confirmation that we have a great system for innovation and entrepreneurship on our campus," engineering school Dean Darryll Pines said. "It's an inspiration to our students."

And while Chang said the prize money is an important incentive, the possibility that students at this university could develop a game-changing energy source is worth more than the money.

"This is one of our planet's biggest challenges, is renewable energy or clean sources to get away from fossil fuels," Chang said.

Hilary Staver, a campaign director for Clean Energy at UMD, said she was glad the government was subsidizing clean energy research because of its benefits to society and the environment.

"Those benefits and costs are not often included in the price, so I think it's appropriate for the government, which is charged with the public good, to be fostering these kind of technologies," she said.

And even if the university doesn't make it to the final round of competition, Chang said the program will expose students to research expertise and industry contacts.

"If [a company is] part of the competition, [it gets] an early preview of some really promising technologies, which you could commercialize and turn into a very promising business down the line," Chang said.

In addition to each regional competition involving 11 ACC schools' winners, Mtech will keep with its athletics theme and set aside funding for two to four at-large bids, or outside competitors.

Staver, a senior environmental science and policy major, said she is curious to see what kind of business plans students develop.

"It sounds like a great program and exactly the kind of program that we need right now," she said.

lurye@umdbk.com