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UAlbany NanoCollege and New Energy New York to highlight innovation and entrepreneurship at 6th Annual New Energy Symposium
(Nanowerk News) Further demonstrating New York's growing recognition as a home for green energy technologies and companies, more than 20 emerging cleantech start-ups will participate in a daylong business plan competition during the sixth annual New Energy Symposium, presented by New Energy New York (NENY) and the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering's (CNSE) Energy and Environmental Technology Applications Center (E2TAC), in partnership with the New York Academy of Sciences, on August 1 in New York City.
The companies selected to participate in the Clean Energy Investment Presentations will showcase a host of innovative green technologies, including cutting-edge photovoltaic and clean coal technologies, novel methods to enable wind power and waste-to-energy projects, and improved battery storage, among others. Each company will present its technology and business plan to an audience of regional, national and international venture capitalists (VCs), private investors, corporate VCs, investment bankers and federal executives, with the top three presentations to receive cash prizes, in a collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) Industry Growth Forum.
The event comes on the heels of a $57.5 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy to CNSE and SEMATECH in April to establish the U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium (PVMC), and a report released July 13 by the Brookings Institution, which identified New York's Capital Region as the nation's leading metropolitan area for the percentage of workers employed by the green economy.
"It is incredibly exciting to have so many emerging cleantech start-ups in one place to showcase innovative technologies that will create real opportunities for our energy, environmental and economic future," said Tom Birdsey, President and CEO of EYP Architecture & Engineering and Chairman of NENY. "The sixth annual New Energy Symposium represents another positive step toward a cleaner, more sustainable and economically beneficial future for New York and the nation."
"The UAlbany NanoCollege, through its Energy and Environmental Technology Applications Center, is delighted to present an event which is both exciting and critical to our future," said Dean Fuleihan, CNSE Executive Vice President for Strategic Partnerships and Executive Director of CNSE's Nanotechnology Innovation Institute. "The symposium offers a unique platform through which emerging green energy companies can connect with industry executives, state and federal government officials and top-level university researchers, opening the door for collaborative opportunities that will better position our state and nation to compete in the 21st century clean energy economy."
"The sixth annual New Energy Symposium tackles head on the vital challenges of America's energy future," said Dr. Pradeep Haldar, CNSE Vice President for Clean Energy Programs, Professor and Head of CNSE's Nanoeconomics Constellation, Director of CNSE's E2TAC and Executive Director of NENY. "More importantly, it positions New York as a home for nurturing green technologies and companies, and reinforces the state's strong commitment to developing and supporting alternative energy technologies that are critical to society."
This year's New Energy Symposium will also feature a quartet of keynote speakers who will address the topics of innovation and entrepreneurship in the clean energy industry: U.S. Department of Energy Technology Transfer Coordinator Karina Edmonds; New York State Public Service Commissioner Robert E. Curry Jr.; Long Island Power Authority Assistant Vice President Dan Zaweski; and CNSE's Dr. Haldar.
About NENY
New Energy New York is a consortium of New York energy-related technology organizations convened to expand and promote energy technology excellence in New York State. Formation of NENY is the direct result of a forum hosted by U.S Senator Charles Schumer in December of 2002 to look at ways the state's high-tech companies could interact to address energy-related technology issues. The idea behind creating a formal consortium of companies to pursue common technology initiatives is to bring attention to the state's leadership on clean-energy resources, and to provide benefits to each of the members through cooperation and coordination of marketing initiatives. For more information, visit http://www.neny.org.
About E2TAC
The Energy and Environmental Technology Applications Center (E2TAC) was created in 1998. It was established as an active expansion of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering to work with companies in the rapidly emerging energy and environmental industries. E2TAC provides a critical platform for CNSE to leverage its intellectual power base and state-of-the-art infrastructure to provide an applications-targeted resource supporting technology development, leading to the integration of nanoelectronics and nanotechnology in advanced energy and environmental applications. For more information, visit http://www.e2tac.org.
About CNSE
The UAlbany CNSE is the first college in the world dedicated to education, research, development, and deployment in the emerging disciplines of nanoscience, nanoengineering, nanobioscience, and nanoeconomics. CNSE's Albany NanoTech Complex is the most advanced research enterprise of its kind at any university in the world. With over $7 billion in high-tech investments, the 800,000-square-foot complex attracts corporate partners from around the world and offers students a one-of-a-kind academic experience. The UAlbany NanoCollege houses the only fully-integrated, 300mm wafer, computer chip pilot prototyping and demonstration line within 80,000 square feet of Class 1 capable cleanrooms. More than 2,600 scientists, researchers, engineers, students, and faculty work on site at CNSE's Albany NanoTech, from companies including IBM, AMD, GlobalFoundries, SEMATECH, Toshiba, Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, ASML, Novellus Systems, Vistec Lithography and Atotech. An expansion now underway is projected to increase the size of CNSE's Albany NanoTech Complex to over 1,250,000 square feet of next-generation infrastructure housing over 135,000 square feet of Class 1 capable cleanrooms and more than 3,750 scientists, researchers and engineers from CNSE and global corporations. For information, visit www.cnse.albany.edu.
Source: CNSE