Washington, DC – U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today the selection of five projects to build and strengthen “innovation ecosystems” that will accelerate the movement of cutting-edge energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies from university laboratories into the market. This is the first time the Department is funding this type of university-based commercialization effort. The ecosystems will foster collaborative environments, bringing together key players from universities, the private sector, the federal government and Department of Energy National Laboratories to identify and develop new clean energy technologies and help them succeed in the marketplace. The projects will receive a total of $5.3 million in federal funding over three years, which will be leveraged with grantee investments to support $9 million in total projects.
“Many great clean energy technologies have been born in our nation’s research universities. Accelerating linkages between university research, investors and the business world is essential to moving these great ideas to the marketplace,” said Secretary Chu. “The innovative clean energy start-up companies supported by these ecosystems will advance American competitiveness and will help create the jobs of the future.”
The innovation ecosystem projects announced today are led by universities or nonprofits based in five states, and convene a total of 80 project partners, uniting the strengths of universities, business, finance, government, research institutes, economic development organizations, accelerators, and National Laboratories. The projects were selected based on the following objectives: nurturing and mentoring entrepreneurs; pursuing intellectual property protection for technological innovations; engaging the surrounding business and venture capital community; and integrating sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation across university schools and departments.
To learn more about the Commercialization Team, visit the Commercialization website. To learn about other partnership opportunities with DOE laboratories, visit the Department’s Technology Transfer website.
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