Clean Tech Open is an organization of leading entrepreneurs, academics, investors and companies, working together to accelerate the development of clean technology startups. The organization provides resources, education and support for clean tech entrepreneurs. Activities include the Annual Business Competition, Mentoring, Sustainability Workshops, a series of Public Symposia and Resource Directory. Any inventor, technologist or clean tech enthusiast with a great clean tech idea is invited to submit a three-page Executive Summary to the Annual Business Competition. In the first round of the competition, a group of Semifinalist teams are selected to continue in the competition, where these teams participate in the Clean Tech Accelerator and receive additional mentoring and sustainability training. Semifinalists pitch their business plans and present to a panel of judges. Six Finalists are selected from California, three Finalists from the Rocky Mountain region, and three Finalists from the Pacific Northwest region. The Finalists then participate in the national competition, where one winner receives the national prize package. Finalists and Winners receive a "Startup-in-a-Box" package of cash and services donated by high-profile sponsors. Packages include: cash, office space, legal services, accounting, insurance, public relations, recruiting, software, and other business essentials. In just three years, the Clean Tech Open has awarded over $2.72 million worth of prizes. From the past three years, 84% of our Alumni are still viable businesses and have secured more than $125 million in funding.
WES SCHRADER: volunteers as Contestant Chair with the Clean Tech Open where he leads the recruitment efforts to find eligible contestants to enter the business competition. Mr. Schrader is CFO of an indie film finance and distribution company and holds an MBA and Master of Science in Finance from the University of Denver and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Valparaiso University.
Presentations By:
Mt. Princeton Geothermal: Hank Held
Mt. Princeton Hot Springs, Nathrop, Colorado, is located at the intersection of the N-S basin and range Sawatch Fault Zone and the off-setting, cross-cutting E-W Chalk Creek fault zone in the Upper Arkansas Valley at the north end of the Colorado – New Mexico Rio Grand Rift Zone. Co-located are highest surface temperature (186°F) and heat flow (395 mw/m2) measurements in Colorado. 1970’s heat flow exploration drilling by AMAX Exploration Inc. indicates a high heat flow (6 x normal) target. Collaborative geological and geophysical exploration completed by Mt. Princeton Geothermal LLC, its land owner partners, and the Colorado School of Mines includes deep and shallow seismic, gravity, magnetic and SP surveys. Additional thermal gradient test hole have been drilled in collaboration with the Colorado Governor’s Energy Office. These studies have helped define a deep geothermal reservoir potential for a non-consumptive, pump & dump geothermal electrical plant of about 10 MW. Deep (~2,500’) slim hole drilling to confirm and pump test the deep fracture reservoir targets is planned for the fall of 2009. The plant will use new hydrothermal electrical generation systems. If successful, the Mt. Princeton Project will be the first geothermal electrical production in Colorado and could lead the way for other hot springs geothermal energy projects in the State.
HANK HELD: has structured project financing for the first large-scale ethanol plant in Brazil for use in “gasahol”, and is the authore of lease finance regulations used in Indonesia and Taiwan. He established two new $2.5 million (capital- 1979, 1981) joint venture companies, including negotiation of chareholder agreements, incorporation and maintenance of government and shareholder realtions.
He has a B.S., Marketing/Finance, University of Colorado-1969; and a Juris Doctor (Law), University of Colorado – 1972: he is a member of the Denver Bar Association, the Colorado Bar Association and the American Bar Association, the National Association of Dealership Counsel.