Urban Future Prize Competition Funds Technologies in Smart City and Smart Grid Tracks

The Urban Future Lab has announced the launch of its 2018 Urban Future Prize Competition – which seeks revolutionary smart city and smart grid technologies to participate in a pitch competition in New York City. Two winners will receive $50,000 and the opportunity to grow their businesses into the cleantech business incubation program, ACRE.

The cash prizes will be awarded to the top companies in each of the competition’s two categories:

  • The New York Community Trust Smart City track – pertaining to urban infrastructure and resiliency, Internet of Things, sensor networks, analytics, and related themes; and,
  • The New York Community Trust Smart Grid track – pertaining to renewable energy, energy efficiency, grid modernization, distributed generation, microgrids, and other solutions.

“The Urban Future Prize Competition is an excellent vehicle for startups in the clean energy, smart city, and smart grid space to scale up and get funding,” said Pat Sapinsley, managing director of cleantech initiatives at NYU Tandon. “The winners will not only each be given a $50,000 grant funded by the New York Community Trust, but acceptance into our incubator, which entitles them to apply for as many as three $100,000 NYSERDA Ignition Grants. The help that our incubator has given to companies in the past has resulted in over $350 million in funding and in a 90 percent survival rate for our startups — a phenomenal success rate compared to the national average.”

Applications to the Urban Future Prize Competition are open until January 4, 2019. For more information and to apply, go to urbanfuturecompetition.com. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), New York Community Trust, and Con Edison are providing support for the competition.