Virginia BizPlan Wins $250K Prize

Bruce V. Bigelow7/1/09

A University of Virginia team developing miniature power plants that convert rice husks into electricity for use in rural villages throughout India won $250,000 in seed capital for winning a global business plan competition. Husk Power Systems of Charlottesville, Va., was named as the winner today by the sponsors, the Menlo Park, CA, venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson and San Jose, CA-based Cisco Systems. Biological Dynamics, a UC San Diego effort headed by bioengineering graduate student Raj Krishnan, was among the 16 finalists that competed yesterday in final online presentations.

Bruce V. Bigelow is the editor of Xconomy San Diego. You can e-mail him at bbigelow@xconomy.com or call (619) 669-8788