Judging & Sustainability Criteria
Judging Criteria
The submissions in each of the six categories of the competition are reviewed by a panel of five or more judges from the academic, research, business and venture communities, including experienced professors, engineers, entrepreneurs, angel and venture investors, environmental experts and legal professionals.
To win the Cleantech Open competition, teams must show outstanding performance in all of the following criteria:
- Concept and Product
- Feasibility
- Market
- Financials and Profitability
- Sustainability
- Team
More details on these criteria and the judging process will be made available to registered participants in the Competition Handbook.
Sustainability Criteria
On a larger philosophical level, sustainability is the “Use and development that meets today’s needs without preventing those needs being met by future generations”, (Brundtland Commission, 1987).
At the Cleantech Open, we strive to highlight the relevance and promote the philosophy of sustainability so that our clean tech contestant teams have the tools and motivation to embed sustainability into every aspect of their companies.
Sustainability and cleantech are not synonyms. We see cleantech as the end product or service, but sustainability as the key driver in determining the process by which you get to that end point. Our goal is to have every contestant team positively impact the environment and the broader community in every phase of development as they fulfill their incredible potential.
Our teaching methodology emphasizes systems thinking by providing frameworks, metrics for success, and awareness of external regulatory and policy issues. The Cleantech Open’s Sustainability team focuses on the three P’s:
Product
- The team must deliver products or services that have a net positive environmental and social impact and be able to articulate the impact of their solution.
- The method by which the team’s product or service is produced must have a net positive environmental and social impact. Teams must be able to address problematic environmental issues in operations and proposed mitigations.
- Gaining stakeholder approval and building sustainable teams in small business environments is crucial for social sustainability. Teams must effectively communicate the value proposition for sustainability to its different stakeholders.
More details on sustainability criteria will be made available to registered participants in the Competition Handbook.
