Perinton solar cell producer meets entrepreneurial challenge

(June 1, 2007) — Wakonda Technologies Inc., a Perinton company that's seeking to make solar energy competitive with conventional electric power, won the first Golden Horseshoe Business Challenge on Thursday, taking home a prize of $100,000.

The company had finished second in a preliminary competition, the Rochester Regional Business Plan Contest, but won a wild-card invitational round earlier Thursday.

Wakonda's plan is to develop advanced solar cells that will deliver low-cost electricity.

"Winning this helps to validate what we are doing," said Les Fritzemeier, 52, founder and chief executive of Wakonda Technologies.

The Rochester area also was represented in the competition by iCardiac Technologies, a Brighton-based provider of pharmaceutical safety trials. ICardiac already had won $25,000 in cash and $7,500 worth of services in the Rochester contest.

The Golden Horseshoe competition is a cross-border contest involving U.S. and Canadian companies. One aim is to stimulate entrepreneurial growth, said Duncan Moore, a member of the organizing committee and vice provost for entrepreneurship at the University of Rochester.

"We wanted to raise the level of business plans in western New York and southeast Ontario and look at ourselves as one region," Moore said. "The ultimate goal is to get more ... companies funded in this area."

Fritzemeier hopes that financial backers have already begun to notice.

"My hope is that there are some investors ... that are saying to their friends that there are some very interesting things going on in Rochester and maybe someone should pay attention."

ASHEBAR@DemocratandChronicle.com