It was an honor to speak at Confluence Philanthropy’s Climate Solutions Summit this month. Particularly intriguing was the collaborative nature of the event, and the sharing of new ideas on how to engage each other and important parts of the US innovation system to further the development of new clean energy technologies. Confluence is a compelling organization, and the ideas and activities of its members should be shared broadly so others may learn and adopt its transformative investment practices. Sharing successes and supporting new ideas inspires others to do the same, and catalyzes collaborations.
These collaborative activities are critical to addressing climate change and systemic racism in ways that distribute economic benefits equitably across our country. Collaboration is especially important to the development of new low-carbon technologies, because no single entity in the U.S. energy innovation system is responsible for bringing new technologies across the “valley of death” between proof of concept and early adoption in the market. Government and philanthropic funding typically come too early in the process to help would-be innovators get to market, while the private sector (with a few exceptions) prefers investments that pay off more quickly and with more certainty.
This gap in the nation’s energy innovation system could put the climate at risk by stalling the transition to a clean energy economy. It could also open the way for China and other countries to capitalize on U.S. investments. If key technologies are made overseas, the United States will lose out on many of the commercial opportunities the transition will create, and its national security could even be compromised. If the United States is to lead the world toward a cleaner energy future and gain the economic, security, and environmental benefits of that leadership, it must fill the gaps in its system for commercializing new energy technologies by better connecting the diverse players that make up the innovation ecosystem.
One public-private-partnership that could help bridge this gap would be a Department of Energy Foundation, or what I call, an Energy Technology Commercialization Foundation (ETCF). At the core of ETCF would be collaboration strategies aimed at catalyzing and incubating partnerships between the public, private, and philanthropic communities to tackle cross-cutting national challenges and strengthen regional energy innovation ecosystems. The objective of the collaboration strategies is to create partnerships that allow for the free flow of information across the valley of death, aligning the different players of the innovation process, and reducing risk. Grants made through the ETCF to align incubators, universities, laboratories, and other critical parts of the innovation infrastructure of the country, will turn what has been a serendipitous process into something more systematic, providing the right support to promising technology projects at the right time.
Additionally, ETCF would collaborate with DOE to make potential private and philanthropic partners more aware of and knowledgeable about DOE-funded R&D; and help them assess technology risk by connecting them to technical experts. ETCF, working with the community of energy innovation donors and investors, would help increase the use of low-cost financing mechanisms for technology maturation. It would not syndicate deals, but rather create challenges and partnerships through which deals would be a natural next step. Deals could be made with collaboration partners, or funded by investment organizations such as a National Green Bank—another of our proposals that addresses financing challenges for technology deployment.
The ETCF is particularly important for establishing and developing regional networks of science and technology clusters. Our country is facing growing inequality with five metro areas accounting for more than 90% of the nation’s innovation sector growth. This inequality leads to deepening racial justice issues, and has trapped parts of the nation in underdevelopment for decades. By linking local economic development, innovation resources, and workforce needs with technology development, the ETCF can help reverse these trends across the nation, and facilitate the creation of dynamic regional innovation ecosystems. And this will create a more-transparent, better-connected, and more-efficient market for clean energy technology commercialization.
An ETCF was envisioned in the bipartisan and bicameral Increasing and Mobilizing Partnerships to Achieve Commercialization of Technologies for Energy Act or IMPACT bill introduced in the 116th Congress by Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) (S.2005), along with Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) and former Representative Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), now Senator Ben Ray Lujan (H.R.3575). This bill passed the House of Representatives in the September 2020 energy package, but the ETCF part of the bill was removed during Senate negotiations before passage of the final bill. ETCF’s authorization draws on precedents set by other congressionally-authorized agency-related foundations, such as the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, and Centers for Disease Control Foundation (CDCF).
- Jetta Wong, Senior Fellow, Clean Energy Innovation Project at ITIF
Jetta Wong is President of JLW Advising and Senior Fellow in the Clean Energy Innovation Program at ITIF. In her consulting practice, she advises clients on how to bring new clean energy technologies to the market. Previously, she worked at the Department of Energy, joining in July of 2012. Before joining the Department of Energy Jetta worked for the United States House of Representatives' Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. She worked on a wide range of energy and environment policy issues related to civilian research, development and demonstration programs at the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. Before working for Congress, Jetta worked for the Clean Energy Program of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) where she brought stakeholders together from southern states in support of clean energy policy. Prior to her work at UCS she served as the Senior Policy Associate on Sustainable Biomass for the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI). There she testified twice for Congress on bioenergy and worked with congressional staffers and stakeholders to develop policies that promote cutting edge sustainable renewable energy technologies. Jetta's career in energy started in Uzbekistan where she was a natural resources consultant on an anaerobic digestion development project.
