Pick Rick Hube for State Representative

Purpose:  The Vermont Innovation Challenge is meant to facilitate the development of new ideas and products by Vermont companies and entrepreneurs that will help find solutions to the most difficult challenges of our time such as climate change, energy independence and health care costs.
The challenge will inspire employers and employees on the cutting edge of new technologies to compete for meaningful incentives that will lead to their success and allow them to compete in the global economy here in Vermont.

Plan: The State, in consultation with a panel of industry experts and leading scientific scholars, will outline a series of goals that both solve an engineering challenge and benefit the public good.  These will be “stretch” goals by their nature – difficult to obtain.

The first company, small business or entrepreneur to cross the line and achieve the goal secures the right to operate new or expanded manufacturing operations free from state taxes, specifically state corporate taxes and education property taxes.  The tax waiver will apply to the line of business specific to the invention – i.e., it will apply to capital, operating and labor specific to the challenge, not the company’s entire business – and will sunset with the life of the product or 15 years, whichever comes first.  In the case of sole proprietorship, limited liability company, or subchapter S corporation, the tax waiver will apply to state income taxes specific to the invention.  

Further, the first company over the line in each challenge will earn a cash incentive to kick-start job growth.  The expert panel will work with the Clean Energy Development Fund to establish the incentives using the Fund’s future revenue.

The initial series of challenges will focus on reducing energy consumption.  For instance,
 

• The first company to produce a commercially viable residential wind turbine that increases its rated capacity 50% above current standards;
• The first company to produce a commercially viable pellet or wood stove technologies that increase the efficiency of such stoves by 50% over current industry efficiency leaders;
• The first company to produce a commercially viable rooftop solar system capable of providing power, heating and/or cooling energy for a building at a substantially lower installation and maintenance costs than traditional electric and deliverable fossil fuel sources.
• The first company to produce a commercially viable automobile capable of exceeding 70 MPG, or components for that vehicle such as advanced ignition systems, new generation transmissions or lightweight materials; or an automobile that does not rely on any combustible fossil fuel but has comparable horsepower and mileage to today’s average;  
• The first company to produce a commercially viable engine for other motorized items (like airplanes, motorcycles, boats, lawn mowers or snow blowers) that achieves efficiency improvements of greater that 50% over the existing technology or that reduce by 50% the CO2 emissions these engines produce;
• The first company to produce a commercially viable non-petroleum based fuels (other than corn-based ethanol) for vehicles that achieve an efficiency 150% greater than carbon fuels and has a non-subsidized price equal to the average retail price of petroleum fuels over the past three years.

Over time, we'll also extend this program to cover innovations in software, biomedical fields and other areas where the skill and drive of Vermonters can excel.  To ensure fairness, accuracy and success, Vermont Economic Progress Council (VEPC) will establish the guidelines and criteria for this program.