Twelve teams presented business proposals during the finals round of the ninth annual New Venture Competition and vied for more than $300,000 in cash and in-kind prizes at GW’s Foggy Bottom Campus. The competition was split into three tracks—social ventures, technology ventures and new ventures—with four finalists in each category.
The competition is put on by the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Office of the Vice President for Research. In the past nine years, 40 percent of finalists have launched their companies and 26 startups have been formed, said Jim Chung, associate vice president for research, innovation and entrepreneurship.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) gave a keynote speech about his experience in the business world during the Competition this spring. He said the path to success is not a straight line. Several of his business ventures failed before he found success.
One of the new venture awardees, Clean Condense, received co-working space for six months onsite at GW’s Virginia Science and Technology Campus, located in Ashburn, Virginia and managed by the College of Professional Studies. Award value: $8,000. They also received the Sustainable Infrastructure Prize ($5,000).
The three-person Clean Condense team is made up of Charles Carlson (GWSB ‘18), Spencer Legred (CCAS), Dennis Marquis, David Meehan (GWSB ‘17). Their business proposal, entered in the Technology Ventures category, provides clean water to gardeners and growers to run their operations with an affordable and environmentally-friendly option. This would allow gardeners to save money on irrigation by taking advantage of natural condensation.