GE Disrobes Ecomagination Challenge
San Francisco – GE (NYSE: GE) Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt announced today a “$200 million open innovation challenge that seeks breakthrough ideas to create a smarter, cleaner, more efficient electric grid, and accelerate the adoption of more efficient grid technologies.” Immelt unveiled the “GE Ecomagination Challenge: Powering the Grid” to a handpicked crowd of venture capitalists and others interested in participating in a “global commitment to build innovative clean energy technologies”. Will GE's stealthy move to partner with venture capitalists and foreign outsourcing firms create more jobs for American citizens? LWOH readers will recall this last post about GE's backshoring plans here.
Today's announcement reveals that the enterprising “global challenge invites technologists, entrepreneurs and start-ups to share their best ideas and come together to take on one of the world's toughest challenges - building the next-generation power grid to meet the needs of the 21st century." The challenge is said to be one of the "largest ever" and is open immediately at www.ecomagination.com/challenge.
“The Challenge, launched in collaboration with leading venture capital firms Emerald Technology Ventures, Foundation Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byer and RockPort Capital, and Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Wired magazine, is part of GE’s ecomagination initiative, a global commitment to build innovative clean energy technologies and will help fund the most promising ideas. Proposals are sought in three, broad categories: Renewables, Grid and Eco Homes/Eco Buildings.”
The announcement also explains below “Select Challenge” entrants who will be offered the opportunity to develop a commercial relationship with GE through:
- Investment: the $200 million capital pledge of GE and its partners will be invested globally into promising start-ups and ideas
- Validation: evaluate entrant’sbusiness {sic} strategy through in-depth discussions with GE's technical and commercial teams
- Distribution: explore partnership opportunities with GE to scale a business and create global reach
- Development:: leverage GE‘s technical infrastructure and GE Global Research Centers to accelerate technology and product development
- Growth: explore opportunities for utilizing existing GE customer to take Challenge products to market
The $200 million commitment "will help bring these new ideas to market by providing businesses and individuals with theopportunity {sic} to secure growth capital through GE investment and/or investment by participating venture capital firms. It is open to anyone aged 18 years or older and all legally formed entities.” Imagine that.
Click to read more about how GE is harnessing the power of special partnerships here.
-2Truthy
1 comment:
This whole outsourcing jobs and H-1B "skilled" work visa thing is a pig that is most definitely not flying anymore in this country. If genuises are needed, there is an O Visa. Enough is enough. There are millions of imported workers here undercutting wages and taking jobs for all of the millions of American grads and professionals who are now unemployed.
What a PR coup for GE to pledge (NOT with fingers crossed) to hire educated Americans FIRST!
If only the US CEO would have the brains and heart to want to care about his company our communities.
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