Ecomagination Challenge

$100,000 funding for your best ideas to reduce our carbon footprint.

Overview

GE’s ecomagination Challenge: Low Carbon Solutions is an open call to action for businesses, entrepreneurs, innovators and students in Australia & New Zealand with breakthrough ideas for reducing our carbon footprint.

The Challenge will provide each of 5 winning entrants with an A$100,000 cash Innovation Award.

Selected ecomagination Challenge entrants may also be offered the opportunity to develop a commercial relationship with GE through. Possible outcomes could include:

Investment: a GE capital pledge of up to A$10 million, leveraged by complementary investment from our partners, to be invested into promising start-up and technology entrants
Validation: review and evaluation of your business and technology strategies 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 for suitable technologies
Development: leveraging GE‘s technical capabilities and Global Research Centres to accelerate your technology and product development
Growth: exploration of opportunities to use GE’s customer and industry relationships to enhance your go-to-market strategy

The Challenge, launched in collaboration with leading Australia & New Zealand venture capital firms Cleantech Ventures, CVC Limited, Greenhouse Cleantech, MH Carnegie & Co and Southern Cross Venture Partners, is part of GE’s ecomagination initiative, a global commitment to build innovative clean energy technologies and will help fund the most promising ideas.

The Challenge

The theme for the GE ecomagination challenge in Australia & New Zealand is ‘Low Carbon Solutions’. It is an open call to action for businesses, entrepreneurs, innovators and students in Australia & New Zealand with breakthrough ideas for reducing our carbon footprint.

We are looking to discover globally applicable, breakthrough technologies, products and services across 5 broad categories:

Clean Energy Generation: Renewable and low-carbon generation technologies, including solar, wind, hydro, wave, tidal, geothermal, biomass, cogeneration, clean coal and carbon capture & storage.
Network Efficiency: Technologies which improve energy grid or network efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, including energy storage, smart meters, smart grid, network enhancements and demand side management for energy, water and other resources.
Low-Carbon Transport Fuels: Alternative fuels technologies for transportation, including electrification, natural gas and biofuels.
Low Carbon Products: Novel products whose use results in a demonstrable reduction in carbon emissions, including vehicles, appliances, motors, lighting products and enabling technologies.
Low Carbon Services: Novel services, business models or ICT solutions which generate a demonstrable reduction in carbon emissions.

How will your technology, product or service contribute to reducing carbon emissions whilst generating commercial return?

Submitting An Idea

Submissions can be made any time before 5pm AEST on Friday 30th November 2012 at the following web address:

http://challenge.ecomagination.com/anz

All entries should include a clear, detailed proposal describing an innovative, original home energy technology or process.

A video is optional

Sharing and Protecting Your Ideas

GE and its Challenge partners will review and evaluate all entries and post a reasonable amount of information about each publicly on the challenge.ecomagination.com/ANZ site. GE makes no claim to ownership of your entry to the Challenge or any intellectual property that it may contain. By submitting an Entry, you grant GE certain limited rights to publish parts of your entry and use your trademarks as set out in the Challenge terms and conditions. Visitors to the Challenge website will also have the right to access some information relating to your Entry.

Evaluation

Representatives of GE, its Challenge partners and other individuals with specialist experience will form an Evaluation Committee to consider the granting of Innovation Awards and possible commercial relationships with you or your company.

The Evaluation Committee will select entries to receive cash Innovation Awards. The Evaluation Committee will evaluate each entry based on merit; reliance on science and engineering fundamentals; innovative character; potential to create significant carbon emissions reduction; commercial feasibility in light of applicable market dynamics; and other factors deemed appropriate by the Evaluation Committee.

In early 2013, GE will announce the five winners of the Innovation Awards.

Separately, GE and its Challenge partners will consider whether to pursue commercial relationships with any of the Challenge entrants. This process is distinct from the selection process for Innovation Awards, and is at the sole discretion of GE and its Challenge partners.

Potential commercial relationships include:

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

The Awards

GE will present each of five innovation challenge award recipients with $100,000 in cash, for a total Award Pool of $500,000, to acknowledge these entries as examples of outstanding entrepreneurship and innovation.

Things to Consider

The ecomagination Challenge is focused on finding new and more intelligent Low Carbon technologies and processes, as well as better business models. When preparing your submission, please consider:

Originality – We are looking for innovative Low Carbon solutions. Is your entry unique?
Feasibility – We are looking for functional solutions that can enjoy success in the marketplace. Is your entry cost-effective, or can it be made so?
Impact – If successfully realised, will your entry help turn our current energy challenge into an opportunity?

Keeping these three criteria in mind will help you formulate an entry that stands the best chance of being noticed.

Participation

Individuals over the age of 18 who are permanent residents of either Australia or New Zealand and all companies that are registered in either Australia or New Zealand may participate in accordance with the Challenge Terms and Conditions. One or more individuals and/or companies may collaborate as a team to submit a combined entry. (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.

For more information, please read the full Terms and Conditions governing the ecomagination Challenge and our FAQs. You can also contact us at ecochallengeANZ@ge.com.

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