ANAHEIM, Calif. – (April 16, 2009) The Anaheim Center for New Energy Technologies (AC-NET) held its first Clean Tech Business Plan Competition Wednesday on the campus of Cal State Fullerton. Five teams presented their business plan in front of a large audience and to a panel of distinguished judges from the electric, water, and venture capital industries. At the end of each presentation, teams responded to questions from the judges and were critiqued on their market readiness and whether the technology can help address a regional challenge. In the end, Hadronex LLC based out of Escondido, CA, won the competition with their SmartCover® product, which assists municipalities in preventing sewage spills through its continuous real-time monitoring of critical locations. Their technology leverages an on-line wireless digital data sensor network that allows sanitation agencies to manage their systems. As the competition’s first-place winner, AC-NET awarded Hadronex, LLC $25,000.
“We had a very exciting day of competition and were introduced to innovative and ready-to-market technologies that will be instrumental in addressing some regional challenges,” said City of Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle. “All of the finalists should be proud of their accomplishments and the fact that their clean technologies will directly benefit out local economy.”
Placing second in the competition was Enovative Group, Inc., a Venice, CA based company specializing in helping owners of residential and commercial buildings reduce their energy consumption. Their patented D’MAND CIRC® is a demand-controlled circulation pump intended to replace conventional circulator pumps found in commercial water heating systems by utilizing sensors that monitor real time hot water use. Taking third place was Ecogate, Inc., a company headquartered in North Hollywood, CA that focuses on designing, manufacturing and marketing proprietary control systems for industrial manufacturing customers. The company’s technology is designed to transform classically designed Industrial Ventilation Exhaust Systems (IVES) into energy-efficient On-Demand systems. Team Enovative won $10,000 in the competition, and Ecogate, Inc. was awarded $5,000.
Some of these winning technologies will be tested by the City of Anaheim at the facilities of its water and electric Public Utilities. “By embracing new technologies we will be able to operate more efficiently in the long-term and sustain our earth’s precious resources. This is equally as important as supporting the development of new companies that are trying to bring new efficiency driven products and systems to market,” commented Marcie Edwards, General Manager of Anaheim Public Utilities.
Competition judges for the event included Perry Cole, Energy Capital Partners; Steve Block, Tech Coast Angels; Gary Augusta, OCTANe; Timothy Brick, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California; and Ron Davis, Burbank Water & Power.
For more information on the Clean Tech Business Plan Competition and AC-NET, please visit www.ACNET-Anaheim.net.
ABOUT AC-NET- The Anaheim Center for New Energy Technologies (AC-NET) was introduced by Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle and established in early 2008 through a partnership between the City of Anaheim and Cal State Fullerton. The Center is focused on revitalizing the local and regional economy through supporting the efforts of entrepreneurs, start-ups, and ventures in bringing clean energy and water technologies to market. AC-NET aims to be the premier center in Southern California for research, testing, and education in clean energy and water technology.
ABOUT ANAHEIM PUBLIC UTILITIES – For more than 100 years, Anaheim Public Utilities has served Anaheim water and electric customers with low rates and reliable service. Anaheim Public Utilities is Orange County’s only publicly owned water and electric utility.