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Planet-Profit Report, reporting on sustainable development in the Western United States.

The best and brightest of the cleanest

NREL Industry Growth Forum winners from TX, CO

The 23rd NREL Industry Growth Forum, a showcase for entrepreneurs focused on clean technology, brings together the most promising of those businesses with investors, partners and policy makers. It looks exclusively at businesses in the sustainable energy world, a broad view that includes both energy efficiency-centric firms and those in the renewable energy realm.

The Forum, which took place in Denver this month, begins with companies competing on a regional basis: the initial 200-plus companies were narrowed to 34, who were invited to participate at the Growth Forum. Any firm at the Forum has been vetted by numerous venture capital organizations, strategic partners, and public and private companies

The top three firms receive a capital infusion and business guidance from NREL and this year’s Growth Forum partner: Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich, & Rosati, a national leader in corporate governance including technology licensing & intellectual property, joint ventures and alliances, and various financing transactions.

In addition to the one Best Venture and two Outstanding Ventures awarded, all of the competitors are given an opportunity throughout the two and half day event to meet one on one with potential strategic partners and investors. There are no losers at the Industry Growth Forum.

This year’s Best Venture is MTPV, LLC out of Austin, Texas, a 10-person company which uses semiconductor chips to convert heat directly into electricity.

By using Micron-gap thermal Photovoltaics, the company is able to produce 10 to 50 times more power, with no moving parts and producing approximately 45 percent less heat than other technologies. Semiconductor chips are used in nearly all electronic devices, and waste heat is a bi-product of innumerable environments. The company received a $10,000 cash prize plus $10,000 in services from NREL and $5000 in services from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

The two Outstanding Ventures, both from Colorado, reflect the efforts of Gov. Bill Ritter to promote Colorado as the Clean Technology State.

Opx Biotechnologies, Inc., founded in 2007, is based in Boulder, CO. It has 45 employees. Using its EDGE (Efficiency Directed Genome Engineering) technology, the firm is able to convert renewable raw materials into biochemicals and biofuels.

- VanDyne SuperTurbo, Inc., formed in 2009 as a spinout from Woodward governor. The company is based in Fort Collins, CO. It has 14 employees. The SuperTurbocharger is a system that integrates with internal combustion engines to “supercharge, turbocharge, and turbocompund” reducing approximately 4000 pounds of CO2 emissions per passenger vehicle each year.

Each winner received $5,000 in cash plus $5,000 in services and guidance from both NREL and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.