A Prize for an Idea

It’s a good time to be a student or clean energy innovator – but it’s a great time to be both.

On Dec. 2, 2014, MassCEC hosted the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Clean Energy Prize (CEP) Boston kickoff event at our office in Downtown Crossing. The event brought together the organizing team of the CEP, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, past winners and students eager to participate.

The MIT CEP gives university students from across the United States the opportunity to compete for over $300,000 in prizes. A student-organized business plan competition, the CEP focuses on three tracks for entries: Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy and Infrastructure & Resources. Student teams with ideas or technologies in these fields are encouraged to participate.

Past winners include Radiator Labs, which performs a low-cost, easily installed radiator retrofit, Picasolar, which aims to increase the efficiency of solar cells, and Unified Solar, which has developed cost-effective solar panels that can function at full capacity even when partially shaded.

Attendees of the kickoff event heard from MassCEC’s CEO Alicia Barton about MassCEC’s relationship with the CEP as a longtime supporting organization and sponsor of the Energy Efficiency Track for the past three years. Also providing insight into the competition and the clean energy industry were Tod Hynes, founder and president of XL Hybrids and co-founder of the CEP, and Daniel Goldman, co-founder of Clean Energy Venture Group.

Team applications for the CEP must be submitted no later than February 8, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. EST. After submitting applications, teams will be chosen to go on to the mentoring phase. From that pool, track prize winners will be selected on April 22, 2015, and grand prize winners will be selected on May 4, 2015.

Remember: you don’t have to have a business or business plan to apply – an idea could win a prize, too!