The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship kicked off its call for entries for the 2011 Rice University Business Plan Competition today by announcing the new $100,000 Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) Prize for CleanTech Innovation. The KPCB prize is intended to encourage business and technology solutions for cleaner power, transportation and water.

Teams from 42 of the world’s top graduate schools will participate in the April 14-16 business plan competition, which has a total prize pool worth more than $1 million. Teams may apply to compete until February 18 at www.alliance.rice.edu/rbpc.

The Rice University Business Plan Competition is the world’s largest and richest graduate-level business plan competition. It is hosted and organized by the Rice Alliance, Rice University's flagship initiative devoted to the support of technology commercialization, entrepreneurship education and the launch of technology companies. It was formed as a strategic alliance of three schools: the George R. Brown School of Engineering, the Wiess School of Natural Sciences and the Jones Graduate School of Business in collaboration with the Vice Provost and the Office of Research.

This is the 11th year for the competition, which has grown from nine teams competing for $10,000 in prize money in 2001 to 42 teams from around the world competing for more than $1 million in cash and prizes in 2011.