It's not just about prize money, people, the California Clean Tech Open said on Thursday as it unfurled the 2009 contest. The organization, which gives cash, office space and publicity to green technology startups, has set a goal of creating 100,000 jobs by 2015 through the events and contests it holds to help incubate companies. While the contest so far has been focused on California, it is also spreading to Colorado and Washington. This 2009 contest will feature prizes totaling $1 million. The grand prize winner will get $250,000 in cash and other things that they'd have to pay cash for if they bought (i.e., office space.) Contests have an up-and-down history. Everyone likes them: the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, and the X Prize Foundation have drawn various entrepreneurs to contests to build robotic cars or space craft. On the other hand, it's hard to point your finger at a Google (or even Yahoo) caliber company emerging from one of these. Still, it's a start and it can take several years to take an energy start-up from incubation to full-fledged adulthood. The 125 alumni companies of the CCTO currently employ 501 people and have generated $5.7 million in revenue. Notable alumni include Nila, which created the LED spotlight gaining popularity in Hollywood. Judi Dench apparently loves it because it doesn't generate heat. Besides, VCs can fund everything. Scott Sandell at New Enterprise Associates noted that funding to VC firms dropped by 73 percent in the fourth quarter and will stay down in 2009. The VC industry has produced "middling returns" for the last five to ten years, Sandell added. So maybe contests are the way to go.