NCET is pleased to announce the winners of the 6th Annual Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition. The awards were announced last evening at the Awards Dinner and Gala at the Atlantis Casino Spa Resort in Reno.

• First place in the graduate division and the $20,000 prize went to Glyzen Technologies from UNR for their plan to develop a process to remove biodiesel waste.
• UNR’s Outbox Records, LLC took first place in the undergraduate division and the $20,000 prize for their plan to promote a music-recording label through digital music and social networking.
• Second place in the graduate division and the $10,000 prize went to UNR’s Biometric Recognition, Inc. for their plan for a product involving hand-based recognition and authentication system.
• UNR’s Innovative Protection Systems took second place in the undergraduate division and the $10,000 prize for their plan to create advanced handheld protection devices.
• Third place in the graduate division and the $5,000 prize went to UNLV’s TIKI ICE for a low calorie, Italian Ice product.
• UNR’s Nevada Paper Fuels took third place in the undergraduate division and the $5,000 prize for their plan to develop an industrial process which converts waste paper into cellulosic ethanol.

For the fourth year, NCET presented the Lt. Governor’s Award, sponsored by NV energy, to the business plans that best employed clean, renewable or efficient energy technologies and service. NOVAE Nanotechnology from UNR won the Lt. Governor’s award and $5,000 for their plan to provide high quality single-walled carbon nanotubes with reduced production costs.

You can find a complete list of winners with team information including team members, faculty advisor and business plan descriptions here

Oral Presentations

April 21 – Atlantis Hotel, Reno

9:30 am – 5:30 pm – FREE and Open to the Public

You’re invited to watch Nevada’s best and brightest college and university students present their business plans on Wednesday, April 21 at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa in the "Treasures" meeting rooms on the second floor in the new conference center. The presentations are free and open to the public.

Presentation Schedule

Governor’s Cup – Undergraduate / Treasures B

10:00 Green Ethos
11:00 Outbox Records, LLC
1:00 Innovative Protection Systems
2:00 Nevada Paper Fuels
3:00 Phoenix Recycling Solutions
4:00 Bioethanol Today

Governor’s Cup – Graduate / Treasures C

10:00 Glyzen Technologies
11:00 Optimal Irrigation System
1:00 Sludge2Power
2:00 Biometric Recognition, Inc.
3:00 TIKI ICE
4:00 AACSS, Inc.

Lt. Governor’s Award / Treasure D

9:30 Sludge2Power
10:30 Nevada Paper Fuels
11:30 Bioethanol Today
1:30 Green Ethos
2:30 Postcom Energy
3:30 SolAir
4:30 NOVAE Nanotechnology

Green energy and technology dominated the finalists’ plans in the sixth annual Governor’s Cup competition, as did teams from the University of Nevada, Reno, organizers and team members said.

Eleven teams from UNR will present business plans to judges Wednesday at the Atlantis Casino, with the chance of walking away with a first-place award of $20,000. They will compete against teams from three other Nevada universities and colleges for nearly $200,000 in total prize money. The majority of this year’s entries are focused on green energy.

The Governor’s Cup, co-sponsored by Nevada’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (NCET) and the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, encourages entrepreneurship and innovation in Nevada, organizers said. The Cup is divided into undergraduate, graduate and renewable-energy competitions, with first- and second-place teams from each moving on to a tri-state cup between Nevada, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Dave Archer, CEO of NCET, said the competition isn’t always based on green technologies, but changes in the market and the shifting of talent between university departments has brought green energy to the forefront.

“Green and clean energy lends itself to the competition well because it’s a burgeoning field right now,” Archer said. “This year there is a group of strong individuals in the engineering program. In 2008 it was a group from the journalism program.”

Of the six finalists from UNR, five modeled their business plans around renewable energy, Archer said. He said UNR and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas dominated the state competition in years past and continue to do so this year.

Emily Somerville, NCET’s senior marketing and events manager, said the majority of this year’s finalists are from UNR.  UNR finalists make up five of the six undergraduate teams, three of the six graduate teams, and five of the seven renewable energy finalists, she said.  The renewable energy competition is also known as the Lieutenant Governor’s cup.

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