Los Angeles has launched its cleantech business incubator to accelerate development of cleantech start-ups by offering flexible office space, CEO coaching and mentoring, and access to a growing network of experts and capital. LACI is the business equivalent of baseball’s farm system: it identifies local talent, nurtures it, and helps it get to market, resulting in more jobs and a bigger green economy in Los Angeles. LACI is located in the city’s Cleantech Corridor in downtown Los Angeles. Located in a four mile long strip between the Los Angeles River and Alameda in the eastern part of downtown, the Clean Tech Corridor is the cornerstone of the city’s green economy strategy. The Corridor will be home to the cleantech ecosystem that Los Angeles is building to support the green economy.

LACI’s temporary home

The Future of LACI; The La Kretz Innovation Campus

Located on an entire city block in the heart of the Clean Tech Corridor, the La Kretz Innovation Campus is scheduled to open in the summer of 2013. Plans for the Campus now include a 30,000 square foot home for LACI, cleantech demonstration centers, R&D labs, conference facilities, work force training facilities as well as space for more mature cleantech companies.

In addition to the prize money FLoW ‘s partners offered contestants experienced mentors, legal start-up packages with firms such as Morrison & Foerster and the opportunity to pitch to investors ready to take action and work with these teams. Partners such as the Cleantech Open (CTO) and UC Davis’s Green Technology Entrepreneurship Academy (GTEA) provide places for FLoW finalists in premier entrepreneurial programs for commercializing green tech innovations. Selected companies will also enjoy access to facilities and services in the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), the city’s new innovation center supporting the cleantech entrepreneur. LACI’s Executive Director Fred Walti says: “We are proud to be a member of the FLOW team, and impressed by the entrepreneurs and innovators from throughout the region who participated. LACI is excited to help propel these student-founded startups into the marketplace.”

National University Clean Energy Business Challenge: Win $200,000 in Prizes and Start a New Company.  First Look West (FLoW) invites student teams throughout the Western U.S. to participate in the Department of Energy’s first ever business plan competition for clean energy. FLoW offers $200,000 in prize money as well as mentoring programs, legal start-up packages, and the opportunity to pitch to investors who can help you transform innovative ideas into commercial reality.

Students attending accredited universities throughout the United States can submit an application by the deadline of February 15, 2012. The competition is designed to focus on the western states and territories: California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Nevada, Idaho, Hawaii, Guam and American Samoa The best-in-class teams will then move through the process to the final judging, which will be held at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena California on April 30 and May 1, 2012.

The FLoW competition is one of six awarded regionally as part of a three-year, $2 million DOE program. Panels of expert judges will select a winning team from each region to compete for a National Grand Prize at a competition held at the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. in June 2012.
The goal is to shine a spotlight on the best young innovators in the country, and attract the follow-on support the competitors will need to bring game-changing new ideas to the market quickly. Competitors will be reviewed by an expert panel of judges consisting of investors, successful entrepreneurs, energy corporations and technologists.