ARPA-E(mpty): Fantastic Program, Not Enough Money
by David J. Leeds (GreentechMedia) After sitting through presentations from a “who’s who” of the energy world these past two days at the DOE’s inaugural ARPA-E Innovation Summit, any one of the more than 1,700 individuals in the room likely needed to call upon their deepest sense of equanimity or find the nearest cocktail bar.
…Over the 2-day summit, much effort was made to suggest that ARPA-E needs to become “the Bell Labs of Energy Science.” It was argued that research hubs for the energy sector are a huge national priority, and that more PhDs and greater collaboration would be required along way.
John Doerr pointed out that Japan’s R&D spending is three times that of the U.S., and concluded that the U.S.’s R&D budget is “criminally” low. Dan Senor, author of Start-Up Nation, explained that the reason that Israel’s economy is “the most innovative in the world” is partly due to the fact that they dedicate the highest percentage of GDP to civilian R&D.
Dan Reicher, Director, Climate Change and Energy Initiatives at Google.org, suggested that “the fruits of the recession” are the stimulus funds directed at energy, but questioned if the federal government would continue to make needed investments in R&D next year, and beyond.
…China now has a system in place whereby mayors of the different regions have to report their “carbon scorecard” on a regular basis. Another panelist mentioned that China has had 30 IPOs in cleantech over the past several months, well beyond the number here in the States.
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Director Majumdar finished by saying that ARPA-E would be a success if the following happened:
- The agency can identify a mechanism for scaling these seed technologies
- More patents are filed
- Their investments receive a follow-on investment by the private sector
- Accelerated market entry (in general)
- An increase in the value of greentech companies occurs
- A new ecosystem of companies is established
- World-setting, best-in-class products are the result
It’s difficult to argue with any of these objectives, but is $400 million enough? China is spending billions. READ MORE
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