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BP Funds Smart Mobility Track, Leads New Round of Sponsorship for Urban Future Lab CompetitionNEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The NYU Tandon School of Engineering Urban Future Lab, New York City's hub for smart cities, smart grid, and clean energy startups, announced today that its 2017 Urban Future Competition received a total of $185,000 in new sponsorship, with $100,000 from The New York Community Trust, $50,000 from BP Ventures, and $60,000 from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The $50,000 provided by BP Ventures, the corporate investment arm of the global energy business, will fund the new BP Smart Mobility track, which seeks to enable a cleaner and more autonomous future of mobility services. The Urban Future Competition debuts the world's most revolutionary technologies by bringing the brightest entrepreneurs together with mission-driven investors, policy leaders, and corporate sponsors for a prestigious pitch competition in New York City. Non-dilutive, non-equity, cash prizes of $50,000 will be awarded to the top companies selected from three tracks: Smart City, Smart Grid and BP Smart Mobility. "By opening this new BP Smart Mobility track within the Urban Future Competition our goal is to help discover and develop the world's most promising technologies, companies and entrepreneurs to support the advancement of global mobility," said David Gilmour, vice president of business development at BP Group Technology. "We are looking for breakthrough thinking and innovation that will help shape the way we move around cities in the near future. By working with the Urban Future Lab we believe we can access new and untapped technologies that will make a real, positive contribution to the future of mobility in cities as we move to a lower carbon future." Over the last decade, BP Ventures has identified and invested more than $350 million in private, high-growth, game-changing technology companies across the energy spectrum. "Too many promising innovations wither on the vine because they fail to attract enough attention from customers and investors at critical moents in their development," said Arturo Garcia-Costas of the New York Community Trust. "These Urban Future Prizes will showcase companies and technologies that can help New York maintain its leadership in urban sustainability." "We are grateful to all of our sponsors for their invaluable support amidst the global transition to a cleaner, smarter, more energy-efficient urban future," said Pat Sapinsley, managing director of cleantech initiatives at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. "The Urban Future Lab's internationally recognized cleantech incubator program, ACRE, houses companies that are integral to this future. With our support, these companies have raised more than $340 million in follow-on funding and have had a survival rate of more than 90 percent since the program's inception in 2009." In addition to the prize money, Urban Future Competition winners get the opportunity to grow their business into a successful venture at ACRE, which is housed in the Urban Future Lab in Downtown Brooklyn. "Since joining the ACRE incubator at the Urban Future Lab we successfully raised a seed investment round," said Jon Garrity, founder and CEO of Tagup. "Also, the incubator facilitated our joint project with ConEdison and NYSERDA, two of the leading organizations in our nation's energy transition. Winning the 2016 Urban Future Competition is what set all of that in motion." Applications to the Urban Future Competition are open until December 1, 2017. For more information and to apply, visit urbanfuturecompetition.com. About the NYU Urban Future Lab and ACRE About the New York University Tandon School of Engineering About BP Ventures About The New York Community Trust www.facebook.com/nyutandon
View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bp-funds-smart-mobility-track-leads-new-round-of-sponsorship-for-urban-future-lab-competition-300537076.html SOURCE NYU Tandon School of Engineering |