by Shane Henson — June 22, 2012—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently named NuMat Technologies from Northwestern University in Illinois as the winner of its DOE National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition.
The competition aims to inspire university teams across the country and promote entrepreneurship in clean energy technologies that will boost American competitiveness, bringing cutting-edge clean energy solutions to the market and strengthening our economic prosperity.
NuMat Technologies enables key clean energy technologies that critically depend on the development of novel materials that are precisely engineered on the atomic scale. For the competition, its team presented a plan to commercialize a nanomaterial that stores gases at lower pressure, reducing infrastructure costs and increasing design flexibility. One potential application for this innovation is in designing tanks to store natural gas more efficiently in motor vehicles, the team says. NuMat Technologies won based on its commercialization idea, go-to market strategy, team plan, environmental benefits and potential impact on America’s clean-energy economy.
As the winning team among six, Northwestern University was awarded $180,000, which includes seed money for their business plan and additional prizes from sponsors including technical, design and legal assistance. The other teams were from the University of Utah, University of Central Florida, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and Columbia University.
