Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Paragon Automation Wins Grow Utah Energy Contest

Grow Utah Ventures, the group that has been running a series of competitions aimed at spurring entrepreneurship in the state of Utah, has announced the winners of its 2010 Energy Innovation "Concept to Company" contest. According to Grow Utah, Paragon Automation won its top, $23,000 grand prize in the competition, which was aimed at energy innovations. Paragon has developed a pressure testing device for testing oil pipelines. The award includes both cash and services. The runners up were Aaron Gilchrist and Mountain West Energy, both of which will receive $10,250 in cash and consulting services. Grow Utah also said it would award another $8,000 to Clay Park and Rob Giles as a surprise fourth winner. Gilcrest has developed a system for generating power from rivers and canals; Mountain West Energy develops a system for evaporating dirty production water from oil and gas field sites. Park and Gines have developed a vessel for enclosing vulnerable oil pipeline valves, to prevent accidents and oil spills.