The document announces a clean energy technology acceleration program that will provide fellowships of $40,000 each to support graduate students and postdoctoral researchers working on commercializing clean energy technologies. Selected applicants will work with MBA students and business advisors to advance their projects. The program will select 3-4 projects to receive funding and support over one year to develop prototypes and conduct market research with the goal of significantly advancing the technologies toward commercialization. Interested applicants should submit a brief statement of intent by March 12th for consideration.

1. Southern California Clean Energy
Technology Acceleration Program
Accelerating Clean Energy Innovation
Announcement & Invitation to Apply
The von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement at the UC San
Diego Jacobs School of Engineering in conjunction the Rady School of Management, San
Diego State University, CONNECT and CleanTech San Diego announce the launch of the
Southern California Regional Clean Energy Technology Acceleration Program sponsored by
the U.S. Department of Energy.
About the Program
This program is intended to provide Fellowship awards to accelerate the commercialization
of novel clean energy technologies developed within research institutes and universities
throughout the Southern California region.
Selected science and engineering graduate students and postdoctoral researchers from
local universities or research institutes will each be awarded a fellowship of $40,000 to be
used to support one or more than one graduate student and/or postdoctoral researcher on
the selected project. The von Liebig Fellows will collaborate with MBA students from either
the Rady School of Management at UCSD or San Diego State University and will receive
business mentoring from the von Liebig Center’s Technology and Business Advisors (worth
an estimated $15,000) providing practical training on technology commercialization.
Technologies sought in the field of clean energy include but are not limited to:
 Photovoltaic Solar Thermal Energy  Building Energy Efficiency
 Wind Energy  Energy Analysis Models, Tools and
 Electricity Transmission and Distribution Software
 Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology  Energy Storage
 Energy Efficiency  Hydropower, Tidal and Wave Power
 Advanced Materials  Biomass and Biofuels
 Vehicles and Fuels
About the Selection Process
A total of 12-15 Statement of Intent applications will be selected based on both their
commercialization potential and development progress to-date. These finalists will be
invited to complete a Full Proposal Application and present their projects to an Expert
Review Panel in April, 2012.
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2. At this stage, all finalists will team with MBA students from either UC San Diego or San Diego
State University and will receive commercialization assistance from the von Liebig Center’s
Technology and Business Advisors. Support will be provided on analyzing the commercial
potential of awardees’ inventions, potential commercialization pathways and with preparing
their presentations for the Expert Review Panel.
In the final stage, three to four projects will be selected to receive $40,000 funding toward
the advancement of prototype development and testing, conducting proof-of-concept
studies, and market research. Awardees will demonstrate significant advancement toward
commercialization by the end of the one-year funding period.
Program Schedule
February 23, 2012 Invitation & Guidelines for Application
March 12, 2012 Statement of Intent Applications Due
March 19, 2012 Invitations to Complete Full Application
April 2, 2012 Full Proposal Applications Due
April 25-26, 2012 Presentations to Expert Review Panel
May 2012 Funding Announcement
Please visit http://www.vonliebig.ucsd.edu/renewableenergy for more information and to
apply for of the San Diego Regional Clean Energy Technology Fellowship Acceleration
Program.
Statement of Intent Application Guidelines
Eligibility
 Applicants must be Graduate student(s) or postdoctoral researcher(s) enrolled in a
university or research institute in Southern California region (Santa Barbara County
and south).
 Applications must involve technologies or services directed toward
commercialization of clean energy technologies.
 In the case of patentable inventions, the technologies should be protected, minimally
by provisional patents filed in collaboration with the inventor’s respective technology
transfer office before the application is submitted.
 Student applicants need to have full endorsements of their faculty advisors.
 Applicants or a designee are highly encouraged to participate in educational
programs that will be delivered online over a two month period.
 Applicants are expected to collaborate with the MBA Innovation Fellows and von
Liebig Entrepreneurism Center’s Technology and Business Advisors.
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3. Statement of Intent Application Format
(in pdf. format only, not to exceed 2 pages, 12-point font, 1.5 spacing)
1) Name of applicant(s), indicate project lead, department, institution affiliation, and e-mail
address.
2) Name of faculty advisor, department, institution affiliation, and e-mail address.
3) Descriptive project title.
4) Summarize the area of market need that the technology addresses, the technology that is
being applied, and the specific application that is the focus of current development.
5) Describe prior funding applied to this project.
6) Summarize the current state of development of the technology (concept, laboratory
demonstration, etc.)
7) Assuming the funding were available, list three to four key project milestones that can be
accomplished over the course of one year.
8) Describe the status of the intellectual property protection for the relevant technology(s).
9) As an attachment (not included in the two pages) please provide a short bio and CV of all
graduate students or researchers involved.
Please submit your Statement of Intent Application online at
http://www.vonliebig.ucsd.edu/renewableenergy
No later than 11:59 pm on Friday, Mar 9, 2012
Late submissions will not be accepted.
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