Competition Details
The Clean Energy Prize aims to encourage economic development in Michigan and capture university-born ideas for advancing the energy industry. The award will recognize the team that conveys the greatest potential to transfer applicable clean technology into practical business development.
Clean Energy Definition
All entrants’ proposed businesses must be based upon a technology, product, or service in one of the following clean energy focus areas:
Eligibility
Teams competing in the 2009-2010 CEP must satisfy the following requirements:
- Teams must be comprised of two or more members.
- Student from any Michigan college or universities are eligible for the prize.
- Business concepts, core technologies or market solution must meet one of the clean energy challenges defined in the Clean Energy Definition above
- Teams may add or remove team members throughout the competition.
- At least one member of the team must be the author of the business plan.
- The proposed business may be for a consumer or an industrial product or service. The business may be for-profit or non-profit, though most competitive businesses demonstrate high growth and/or large market potential.
- Only current students of a Michigan college or university may present the business before judges. Teams may contain faculty, students from other schools, or non-students but only students from a Michigan college or university are eligible to present and receive prize money.
Exclusions
- Excluded from this competition are: buy-outs/turn-arounds, expansions of existing companies, real estate syndications, tax shelters, franchises, licensing agreements for distribution in a different geographical area, and spin-outs from existing companies.
- Ventures with revenues prior to the current academic year are excluded. Ventures that have raised equity capital from sources other than the members of the student team before the current academic year are excluded.
- A business venture that reaches the Finals may not compete in future MBC/DTE competitions.
Rules
- All business plan presentations must be given by student team members.
- Each team must have a student as a principal member who is responsible for representing the team and being the primary contact in all matters.
- Only current students of Michigan Universities may present the business before judges.
- Contestants may participate on as many teams as they would like, but can only be team leader of one team.
- Business cannot have generated any revenue prior to 8/1/09.
- Teams’ businesses cannot have received previous venture capital funding. Teams’ businesses that have received angel funding less than or equal to $100,000 or grant funding for the purpose of R&D and business development are eligible to participate.
- Teams comprised solely of members from technical schools or solely business schools will be disadvantaged in describing the full range of skills necessary to launch a new business.
- Teams eligible for the Clean Energy Prize may be eligible for other prizes associated with the Michigan Business Challenge.
Format
The format for the Clean Energy Prize contains four rounds and eight deliverables. As teams advance they will have the opportunity to participate in business plan development seminars hosted by the Zell Lurie Institute. An outline of the Clean Energy Prize competition is provided below, details for the MBC can be found HERE.
| STAGE | DELIVERABLES |
| Application |
1. 3-page Executive Summary |
| Round 1-Quick Pitch |
3. 3-Minute Quick Pitch Presentation |
| Round 2-Market and Financials | 4. 7-page Market and Financial Overview 5. 7-minute Market and Financial Presentation |
| Semi-Finals | 6. 20-page Full Business Plan
7. 15-minute Business Plan Investor Presentation |
| Finals |
8. 25-minute discussion with venture capitalists (same business plan as Semi-finals) |
Process/Timeline
The process will follow the format above. The tentative schedule for the 2009-2010 Clean Energy Prize is listed below (schedule is subject to change):
Application
The deadline is 8 am on November 20, 2009
Deliverable
Teams will complete a 3-page executive summary and the CEP Intent to Compete form indicating interest in consideration for the Clean Energy Prize presented by DTE Energy and the University of Michigan. Submissions should be in .pdf format to cep0910@umich.edu.
Complete executive summaries, in addition to the business concept and market solution, will indicate succinctly and effectively how the business model, technology, or market solution meets the definition of “Clean Energy” provided above. Teams selected for eligibility for the Clean Energy Prize will be notified prior to Round One.
All teams participating in Clean Energy Prize are eligible to attend Business Development Seminars hosted by the Zell Lurie Institute. Pertinent Business Development Seminars are listed below under the round they support - dates and locations will be updated when available.
Round One
Competition:
Location: Ross School of Business
Date: December 4, 2009 at 9:00a.m.
During Round One, teams give a three-minute pitch to a panel of judges and followed by answering three minutes of questions.
Up to sixteen teams are chosen to advance to Round Two of the Clean Energy Prize and they will receive $200. All teams will be notified of the decisions by 5 p.m. on December 8 via email.
Round Two
The deadline is 8 am on January 11, 2010
Deliverable
The up to 16 teams that advance to Round Two will submit a seven-page Market and Financial Overview that describes the market need or pain, market size, and preliminary financial assumptions. A single .pdf version of the deliverable should be sent to cep0910@umich.edu before 8 a.m. on January 11, 2010.
Relevant Business Development Seminars
- Business Development Seminar – Articulating Market Information
December 7 at 4:30 p.m. in room R1220 The Zell Lurie Institute will present a discussion about how to conduct market information for a company for all students interested in the topic. Students who are competing in Round 2 of the Clean Energy Prize are encouraged to attend this seminar to prepare for their deliverable.
- Business Development Seminar – Financials
December 10 at 4:30 p.m. in room R2230 The Zell Lurie Institute will present a discussion about how to conduct financial information for a company for all students interested in the topic. Students who are competing in Round 3 of the Clean Energy Prize are encouraged to attend this seminar to prepare for their deliverable.
Competition:
Location: Ross School of Business
Date: January 22, 2010 at 9:00a.m.
During Round Two, teams give a seven-minute presentation that describes their company's solution to a pressing market need or pain, an estimation of the market size, and support for the team's financial assumptions. Competitors then answer ten minutes of questions by the judges.
Up to eight teams will advance to the Semi-finals of the Clean Energy Prize and they will receive $300. All teams will be notified of the decisions by 5 p.m. on January 26 via email.
Semi-finals and Finals
The deadline is 8 a.m. on February 1, 2010
Deliverable
The up to eight teams that advance to the Semi-finals must submit a complete, bound hard copy 20-page business plan (with up to 10 pages of appendices) with full financial information to TBD and a single .pdf version should be sent to cep0910@umich.edu before 8 a.m. on February 1, 2010.
Relevant Business Development Seminars
- Business Development Seminar – Exit Strategies
Date and location TBA The Zell Lurie Institute will present a discussion about how to propose exit strategies to investors for all students interested in the topic. Students who are competing in the Semi-finals of the Clean Energy Prize are encouraged to attend this seminar to prepare for their deliverable.
- Business Development Seminar - Business Plan
Date and location TBA The Zell Lurie Institute will present a discussion about how to assemble a compete business plan. Students who are competing in the Semi-finals of the Clean Energy Prize are encouraged to attend this seminar to prepare for their deliverable.
- Business Development Seminar - Presenting a Business Plan
Date and location TBA The Zell Lurie Institute will present a discussion about how to present a complete business plan to a panel of investors for all students interested in the topic. Students who are competing in the Semi-finals of the Clean Energy Prize are encouraged to attend this seminar to prepare for their deliverable.
Competition and Format
Location: Palmer Commons
Date: February 12, 2010 at 9:00a.m.
During the Semi-finals in the morning, teams present their entire business plans for 15 minutes and respond to judges' questions for another 15 minutes. After all eight teams present, the judges choose four teams advance to the Finals held in that afternoon. These four finalists discuss their businesses with the judges in a 25-minute interactive session.
Winners of the Clean Energy Prize will be announced at a reception the evening of February 12, 2010.
Awards
All prizes are cash awards and not investments. Prizes will be paid to a single member, as designated in the entry form, of the winning teams. Team members are responsible for taxes and fees that may be associated with the receipt of the cash prize. Prizes for teams competing in the Clean Energy Prize are dispersed as follows:
| Teams advancing from Round 1 competing in Round 2 | $200 |
| Teams advancing from Round 2 competing in Round 3 | $500 |
| Finalist 4 | $7,000 |
| Finalist 3 | $10,000 |
| Runner-up | $25,000 |
| Grand Prize Winner | $50,000 |
Judging Criteria
A panel of judges from or with ties to the Michigan business community including: venture capitalists, intellectual property attorneys, members of the business and academic communities, and experienced entrepreneurs will review the business plans. Criteria for judging the business viability of each team’s submission depends largely on the round of the competition. This criteria will be communicated to participating teams prior to each round. Particpants in the Clean Energy Prize presented by DTE Energy and the University of Michigan will be judged on business viability using the same criteria as the MBC. These criteria include, but are not limited to:
Marketability
- Competitive advantageMarket potentialMarket scalabilityMarket need/opportunity
Team/Execution
- Quality, dedication and breadth of teamSkills needed to succeedTime-to-marketClear and strong plan to build a successful business
Feasibility
- Stage of idea developmentRequired capital investmentBalance of magnitude and probability of success
Sustainability
- Defensibility from competitorsReliance on speed to a market advantage versus strategy to succeed in a competitive environment
In addition teams will be judged on their ability to communicate the clean energy impact of their business. Each round of the competition will require increasing levels of information supporting the clean energy impact of the business, such that semi-finalist and finalists will be judged on:
- Has the team convincingly identified and quantified the clean energy benefits of the technology or business concept?
- Will the business idea make a significant difference in terms of producing such clean energy benefits?
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