U.S. Energy Secretary to Speak at Berkeley-Stanford Cleantech Conference, April 9

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu will give the keynote speech on Saturday, April 9, at the Berkeley-Stanford Cleantech (BSC) Conference, which this year launches a new showcase and business plan competition.

Titled "Sputnik 2.0? The Pursuit of Green Jobs in China and the U.S.," the conference will run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at PG&E headquarters in San Francisco. In addition to Chu's keynote, the event will include three panel discussions:

  • Clean Technologies: Job Creation or Destruction?
  • What is the Role of Policy in Green Job Creation in the U.S. and China?
  • So what? Implications for Businesses, Professionals, and Students

The Stanford Energy Club and Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative (BERC), are co-presenting the conference. Students in both groups also organized the first-ever BSC Launchpad Showcase and Business Plan Competition. The showcase, featuring local clean tech companies and research at Stanford and Berkeley, and final round of the competition will run from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 8, at Stanford.

The first-place competition winners–to be selected among six finalists from an original pool of 19 entrants–will have the opportunity to re-pitch their idea over lunch with Chu at the conference. Chu, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1997, previously led Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, earned his PhD at Berkeley, and has held positions at both Berkeley and Stanford.

The Berkeley-Stanford Cleantech Conference, which was launched in 2007 by then Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA student Bhavik Joshi, MBA 09, attracts an equal number of students and industry professionals from the Bay Area. The event offers a great opportunity for networking, says Peter Thompson, MBA 12, Haas' lead organizer for the conference.

The conference also will give attendees an understanding of the clean tech opportunities in the Bay Area and how they fit into the global green energy economy, Thompson says.

For more information on the conference, including registration, visit bscleantech.org. For information on the BSC Launchpad Showcase and Business Plan Competition, visit cleantechlaunchpad.com.

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