Grand Prize Winner Olivier Ceberio of Resolute Marine Energy Wins a Weekend at Richard Branson’s Necker Island
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Nov. 22, 2010) – Every month, entrepreneurs launch more than 500,000 new ventures in the United States. This month, 50 of the most promising startups are being recognized as part of the Startup Open, a competition for startups with high-growth potential held during last week’s Global Entrepreneurship Week 2010.
New ventures having a "startup moment" during GEW registered to compete for the Startup Open grand prize—a trip to Richard Branson's private Necker Island to network with experienced entrepreneurs. A startup moment could be any event related to launching a new business such as incorporating a company; officially opening the doors for business; completing a first sale; and securing outside funding.
Olivier Ceberio of Boston won the top prize by presenting a business plan for Resolute Marine Energy. Resolute Marine Energy (RME) aims to develop wave energy converters (WEC) that generate clean energy from ocean waves. The goal of RME is to aid the 1.2 billion people worldwide that lack access to safe drinking water. Ceberio will travel to Branson’s private island in the British Virgin Islands, courtesy Maverick Business Adventures, where he will have the opportunity to network with successful entrepreneurs. Startup Open also is sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and DYMO Labeling,
“Winning this competition gives me the unique opportunity to exchange ideas with leading entrepreneurs and learn the ‘tricks of the trade’ from experienced business owners – all while in paradise,” said Ceberio. “Our company is not just an idea; our goal is to commercialize a wave-driven seawater desalination system by 2012 that operates completely ‘off-grid’ and fills a huge gap in the market for seawater desalination systems.”
“Global Entrepreneurship Week engaged millions of aspiring and inspiring entrepreneurs, helping them embrace imagination and ingenuity,” said Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation. “Startup Open not only recognizes many of the companies that made a start during GEW, but it also puts a spotlight on companies that represent what entrepreneurship is all about – innovation and growth.”
A panel of judges, which included representatives from the Kauffman Foundation and DYMO Labeling, reviewed more than 100 applications. Applicants were judged on concept, growth projections and knowledge of the markets.
Second and third place winners will have two days of one-on-one mentoring at Kauffman Labs for Enterprise Creation, a Kauffman Foundation program. They are Stas Samarin of PulmoCAD, LLC (St. Louis, Mo.), developers of Computer-Assisted Diagnostic tools for early non-invasive diagnosis of lung cancer, and Kahoru Watanabe of Wing Power Inc (Sarasota, Fla.), makers of vertical platform small wind/solar hybrid turbines, whose installed capacity in the United States is projected to grow tenfold from 100MW 2009 to 1000MW by 2015.
As part of the competition, 50 of the most promising startups from around the country that had a “startup moment” during GEW were named and recognized as the “GEW 50.” They are:

1. 3SecondReceipts - www.3secondreceipts.com/
2. 501k.org - www.501K.org
3. Aesir Metals - www.aesirmetals.com 
4. Aethon Advertising
5. Ambassadors of the Environment - www.oceanfutures.org/learning/ambassadors-environment 
6. AppSocial Media / Tingle.com - www.tingle.com 
7. AyoxxA Living Health Technologies - www.ayoxxa.com
8. Bandywagon - http://bandywagon.blogspot.com/
9. Belli Ella - www.belliella.com
10. Capital Resource Center - www.capitalresourcecenter.com
11. Charity Affairs - www.charityaffairs.com
12. CubeVibe - www.cubevibe.com
13. Custom Choice Cereal - www.customchoicecereal.com
14. Day2Night Convertible Heels - http://convertible-heels.com/
15. Everloop - www.everloop.com
16. EZ GO-IN Solutions Inc.
17. Fenix International - www.fenixintl.com
18. FundHer - www.fundher.org
19. The Giving Effect - www.thegivingeffect.com
20. Haiti Ventures - www.haitiventures.com
21. Image Vision Labs - www.imagevisionlabs.com
22. Innovrr
23. Integrated People - www.integratedpeople.org
24. InVenture - www.inventure.org
25. JobStock - www.jobstock.com.my/
26. LocalGrown - www.localgrown.com
27. Love Your Layover - www.loveyourlayover.com/
28. MyNurseToGo - www.mynursetogo.com
29. Nationwide Computer Systems, Inc - www.nationwideinc.com
30. Neonatal Loving Kare - www.neonatallovingkare.com
31. NugZee World of Hunts - http://www.nugzee.com/
32. Oferta, LLC - www.ofertains.com
33. Omniar - www.omniar.com
34. OsComp Systems - www.oscomp-systems.com
35. Prepared Small Business - www.preparedsmallbusiness.com
36. PreScouter - www.prescouter.com/
37. Proof Sunglass Company
38. PulmoCAD, LLC - www.pulmocad.com
39. Resolute Marine Energy - www.resolutemarine.com
40. SecureWaters, Inc. - www.secureaqua.com
41. Seguro Surgical - www.segurosurgical.com
42. ShopSuey - www.shopsueymarket.com
43. Snuggle Cloud - www.snugglecloud.com 
44. SuperAgent - www.superagent.com
45. Tactical Information Systems - www.tacticalinfosys.com
46. TekTrak - www.tektrak.com
47. Unlimited Juice - www.unlimited-juice.com
48. VisitorsCafe - www.visitorscafe.com/
49. Wikology.com
50. Wing Power Inc - http://wingpowerenergy.com

For further details on each of the companies, visit http://www.startupopen.com/img/GEW%2050.pdf. 
About Global Entrepreneurship Week
With the goal to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity, Global Entrepreneurship Week will encourage youth to think big and turn their ideas into reality. From November 15-21, 2010, millions of young people around the world will join a growing movement to generate new ideas and seek better ways of doing things. Tens of thousands of activities are being planned in dozens of countries. Global Entrepreneurship Week is founded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Enterprise UK. For more information, visit www.unleashingideas.org, and follow @unleashingideas on Twitter.  
About the Kauffman Foundation
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private nonpartisan foundation that works to harness the power of entrepreneurship and innovation to grow economies and improve human welfare. Through its research and other initiatives, the Kauffman Foundation aims to open young people's eyes to the possibility of entrepreneurship, promote entrepreneurship education, raise awareness of entrepreneurship-friendly policies, and find alternative pathways for the commercialization of new knowledge and technologies. In addition, the Foundation focuses on initiatives in the Kansas City region to advance students’ math and science skills, and improve the educational achievement of urban students, including the Ewing Marion Kauffman School, a college preparatory charter school for middle and high school students set to open in 2011. Founded by late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman, the Foundation is based in Kansas City, Mo. and has approximately $2 billion in assets. For more information, visit www.kauffman.org, and follow the Foundation on Twitter at @kauffmanfdn and Facebook.  
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