UNR, TMCC teams among winners of Governor's Cup

Six collegiate teams from northern Nevada won cash prizes last week in the fifth annual Donald W. Reynolds Governor's Cup Business Plan Competition.

The winners include:

* Northern Nevada Nanotubes, a team of graduate students from the University of Nevada, Reno, that developed a plan for commercialization of nanotube technology. The team won $10,000 for second place in the graduate division of the competition.

* Carbon Gold, a group of undergraduates from UNR who developed a plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. The team took second place and a $10,000 check in the undergraduate division. The team also took an additional $2,500 Lt. Governor's Award for the best undergraduate business plan for clean energy.

* Dine Around Town, a graduate team from UNR that proposed a specialized culinary tour service. The team won third place in the graduate division and took home a $5,000 prize.

* MJ's Pizzaria, a proposal from a team from Truckee Meadows Community College that developed a new concept for a restaurant and bar. It won a $5,000 prize for third place in the undergraduate competition.

* Appliance 2.0 Solutions, a team of graduate students from UNR, won the $2,500 Lt. Governor's Award for clean energy in the graduate competition. The team developed a load-curtailment system that can be retrofitted into household appliances.

* Clean Beans, an UNR team that developed a plan to build a plant in Minden to recycle waste coffee into natural soaps, was recognized for the best concept to meet the economic needs of rural Nevada.

UNR faculty members Sergiu Dascalu and Mano Misra, who together have coached 17 teams in the competition, won special recognition.

The business plan competition is funded by The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation of Las Vegas and overseen by Nevada's Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology.

NCET said the Reynolds Foundation has agreed to continue funding the business plan program for the next two years, and has agreed to provide larger cash prizes to winners.