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University of Colorado Announces Renewable Energy Proof-of-Concept Grants
Grants will enable CU energy and cleantech technology to progress towards commercialization

Boulder (Jan. 14, 2009). The University of Colorado has selected 4 projects for funding under a new partnership between the CU Technology Transfer Office (TTO) and the CU-Boulder Energy Initiative (EI). These grants, known as ‘proof of concept’ grants, are designed to fill a funding gap between basic research funding and industrial commercialization of technology, and will help move CU-Boulder renewable energy and cleantech inventions towards commercial readiness. Projects were selected for POC funding by the TTO and EI using a competitive internal application process. The winning grant proposals were:
 
Conrad Stoldt, “Optimization of Silicon and Germanium Nanocrystal Solar Cell Architecture for Large Scale Manufacturing and Commercialization” – improved nano-scale materials for solar photovoltaics.

Chen Li, “Micro-scale Hybrid Wick Heat Pipe Cooling System for High Concentration Photovoltaic Cell” – micro-scale heat management for more efficient solar cells.

Will Medlin, “Bifunctional Catalysts” – efficient production of fuels and chemicals from renewable biomass feedstocks.

Additionally, one proposal was funded as a $100,000 proof of concept investment to Ion Engineering, a newly-formed company based on technology from CU-Boulder. The proposal, “Continuous Process for the Removal of Carbon Dioxide from Natural Gas and Fossil Fuel Power Plant Emissions” (Jason Bara, Dean Camper, Christopher Gabriel, Richard Noble and Douglas Gin) provides for a more efficient and effective approach to the capture of CO2 and other contaminants in natural gas processing and coal-fired power plant emissions.

About the Technology Transfer Office
The CU Technology Transfer Office pursues, protects, packages, and licenses to business the intellectual property generated from research at CU. The TTO provides assistance to faculty, staff, and students, as well as to businesses looking to license or invest in CU technology. For more information about technology transfer at CU, visit www.cu.edu/techtransfer.

About the University of Colorado
The University of Colorado is a three-campus system with four locations: the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and the University of Colorado Denver’s downtown Denver campus and Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. Nearly 54,000 undergraduate and graduate students are pursuing academic opportunities on CU campuses. CU is a premier teaching and research university, and is ranked sixth among public institutions in federal research expenditures by the National Science Foundation. Academic prestige is marked by the university’s four Nobel laureates, seven MacArthur “genius” Fellows, 18 alumni astronauts and 19 Rhodes Scholars. For more information about all of the CU campuses, go to www.cu.edu.