42 teams from around the world to compete in 2012 Rice Business Plan Competition

Forty-two teams hailing from some of the world’s top universities will vie for more than $1 million in prizes at the 12th annual Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC) April 12-14.

The teams for this year’s competition were chosen from more than 400 entrants based on their executive summaries to compete in six categories: life sciences; information technology; energy and clean technology; green technology, renewable and recycling; social; and other. The teams will have 15 minutes to present business plans in the competition for the grand prize valued at more than $460,000 and the opportunity to ring the closing bell at NASDAQ OMX this fall. Judges will rank the presentations based on which company they would most likely invest in.

More than 100 corporate and private sponsors support the business plan competition, which includes more than 250 judges from the investment sector and awards more than $1 million in prizes. This year’s prizes include a new $100,000 U.S. Department of Energy Clean Energy Prize to encourage students from across the country to create new businesses and transform promising energy technologies into innovative energy products that will help to create jobs, boost American competitiveness, and strengthen the economy. Other prizes include the $150,000 Investment Grand Prize from The GOOSE Society of Texas, the $100,000 Waste Management “Think Green” Investment Prize, the $100,000 DFJ Mercury Tech Transfer Investment Prize, the $100,000 Opportunity Houston/Greater Houston Partnership Technology Prize, the $100,000 Opportunity Houston/Greater Houston Partnership Life Science Prize, the $100,000 Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers (KPCB) Prize for CleanTech Innovation and the $100,000 OWL Investment Prize.

This year’s competitors come from all over, from Bangladesh, India, Germany, Spain and Denmark to Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Houston. (See below for the full list of teams)

More than 133 past competitors have gone on to successfully launch their ventures and are still in business today. They have raised in excess of $417 million in funding and created more than 600 new jobs in their early stages.

“This success rate is indicative of the quality of teams the competition draws,” said Brad Burke, managing director of the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship at Rice University, which hosts the RBPC. “It is also representative of what we are finding to be an increased interest in innovation and entrepreneurship in the U.S. The current economy certainly affects this as well as the willingness by the millennial generation to take risks to start their own companies. These young entrepreneurs are vital to the U.S. maintaining its technology innovation leadership and its position in the world economy.”

2012 RBPC Teams

Aashar Phool, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

Action Figure Laboratories, Rice University

Amaethon, Rice University

ArborVita Associates, The University of Chicago

Athena Laboratories, The University of Texas at Austin

BeFree!, Johns Hopkins University

Bladepad, Brigham Young University

cleanoventions, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India

DrilLight LLC, Northern Institute of Technology Management, Germany

Dynamo Micropower, Duke University

eBiogen, Lancaster University Management School, England

Elemental Enzymes, University of Missouri

Global Paradigmz LLC, Carnegie Mellon University

Green Earth Aerogel Technologies, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain

House Inc., Dartmouth College

IOMI Technologies, University of Illinois at Chicago

Jola Venture, Northeastern University

Kentucky Chia, University of Louisville

Lemm Technologies LLC, Purdue University

Lifetime Instruments, Stanford University

Ligadon, The University of Utah

Medtric Biotech LLC, Purdue University

Mekong Green Tech, Georgia Institute of Technology

Mimas Nanomaterials, Northwestern University

MoMo Scientific, Johns Hopkins University

NovoView Diagnostics, University of Illinois at Chicago

NuMat Technologies Inc., Northwestern University

PhoneSoap, Brigham Young University

reNature, Arizona State University

Salveo Vascular, Johns Hopkins University

Samriddhi Water Solution, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, India

SasaAfrica, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Saturnis, Washington University in St. Louis

Senseye, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark

SlideStacks, The University of Chicago

Solanux Inc., University of Idaho

SolidEnergy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

SpatiaLink Solutions, University of Arkansas

Stanford Nitrogen Group, Stanford University

T3D Nanotech LLC, University of Delaware

Think Innoventions Pvt. Ltd., Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India

Vasculogic, The University of Pennsylvania