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Commercialization Initiatives and Opportunities

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) provides a variety of opportunities for venture capital investment. This page includes information about the Entrepreneur in Residence Program, in which venture capital funded entrepreneurs work with the Department of Energy's (DOE) national laboratories to find market-ready technologies, and the DOE Venture Capital Technology Showcase Presentations.

The Technology Commercialization Fund

DOE's National Laboratories are at the forefront of renewable energy and energy efficiency technology research. The goal is wide diffusion of these technologies into the marketplace, ultimately improving the efficiency of the economy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and increasing energy security. The Technology Commercialization Fund will accelerate progress by encouraging private industry to partner with DOE's National Laboratories to ultimately bring new clean energy and energy efficiency technologies to market. The funding will help post-research technologies move toward commercial viability by providing pre-venture capital funding for prototype development, demonstration projects, market research, and other deployment activities.

The Technology Commercialization Fund was authorized under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Section 1001 (e), enacted by Congress and signed by the President, which instructs DOE to establish a fund to promote promising renewable and efficient energy technologies by providing matching funds with private partners. The commercialization funds are intended to be spent on activities such as prototype development, demonstration and deployment — not on further research and development.

To learn more about the combined $7 million in funding available at the DOE National Laboratories selected to participate in the FY08 Fund, visit that laboratory's Office of Technology Transfer:

The Entrepreneur in Residence Program

The Entrepreneur in Residence Program (EIR) brings venture capital sponsored entrepreneurs into the DOE's national labs to identify technologies for commercialization. On February 27, 2008, three companies were chosen to work with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Working directly with laboratory personnel, the entrepreneurs will conduct technology assessments, evaluate market opportunities, formulate preliminary business cases, and propose business structures in order to bring these technologies to the marketplace. For more information about the companies chosen to work and the terms of the Funding Opportunity Announcement, see the DOE press release on the Department of Energy's Web site.

The DOE Technology Commercialization Showcase

EERE's Commercialization Team has found it important to make sure that knowledge of available clean energy technologies reaches the business community. If no one learns of a technology's promise, then that technology will indefinitely sit on the lab shelf. The Department Of Energy Technology Commercialization Showcase provides effective communication, and the Commercialization Team provides potential investors with an ample amount of information.

EERE Program Managers identify eight to ten, or more, of their most promising technologies in their portfolio and create a simple description of the opportunity that is presented at the Technology Commercialization Showcase. Next, DOE invites prominent, cleantech venture capital firms that are actively seeking investment opportunities to this two-day conference.

In 2008, the 2nd Showcase was held in August at DOE Headquarters in Washington, DC. During the Showcase, each of EERE's Programs presented its Program Overview, Industry Overview, Investment Gaps, and Commercialization Opportunities. The representatives also spoke about industry trends, projections, and activities, all to inform Venture Capitalists about the full reach of each Program's commercialization opportunities. Presentations from both 2007 and 2008 are available below.

The following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.