CUE NAMED UP-AND-COMER FINALIST AT CHICAGO INNOVATION AWARDS
CHICAGO; November 14, 2011-- Clean Urban Energy (CUE), an energy storage and smart grid technology provider, today announced that they have been named a top-ten Up and Comer finalist by the Chicago Innovation Awards.
CUE was honored for its energy optimization SaaS platform that allows large commercial office buildings to connect their HVAC operations to the electric grid to automatically take advantage of electric market opportunities while simultaneously providing storage for the electric grid. CUE customers currently report energy savings of 15-30%.
The Chicago Innovation Awards were founded in 2002 to celebrate the creative spirit of Chicago and to recognize new products and services invented, produced, and deployed in the Chicago region, including Northern Illinois, Southern Wisconsin, and Northwest Indiana. This year, the Awards received a record-breaking 409 nominations. The nominees were then carefully reviewed and narrowed down by a panel of 40 of Chicago’s distinguished business, legal, government, and civic leaders. CUE was recognized as an Up and Comer, along with nine other start-up companies who satisfy a previously un-met market need in an innovative way.
"The Chicago Innovation Awards shine a bright light on the creative spirit of the Chicago region," said Thomas D. Kuczmarski, the awards' co-founder and senior partner and president of the innovation firm Kuczmarski & Associates. "The recognition of and support for innovation in the Chicago region is growing fast and living up to its promise as the most powerful economic engine of the new economy."
The tenth anniversary Awards show was held at the Harris Theater on November 8. CUE President Phil Bomrad was present to accept the award certificate in front of a sold out crowd of 1400 people. “It was an incredible honor for me to accept the Chicago Innovation Award on behalf of CUE,” said Bomrad. “There have been tremendous efforts by our founders and employees over the past few years and this award is the culmination of that commitment.”
As a finalist, CUE has been invited to pitch its technology before a panel of local venture capitalists. This presentation will serve as the final judging of the ten finalists. A winner will be announced in early 2012. Sponsors of the 2011 Chicago Innovation Awards included Wrigley, Google, Cisco, Comcast Business Class, Edelman, Spigit, the Disney Institute, and others.