Office of Technology

Transitions

Marcos Gonzales HarshaDeputy Director, Energy Investor CenterSeptember 2018

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Office of Technology Transitions: Mission

The Office of Technology Transitions was created in 2015 to expand the commercial impact of the DOE’s portfolio of R&D activities.

Stakeholder EngagementStreamlining policies and proceduresElevating Best PracticesElevating Visibility- data collection, reporting, and analysis

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Overview

Energy.gov/technologytransitions 2

17 National Laboratories

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DOE Labs: GOCO Model

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DOE maintains 16 of the 17 labs as GOCOs – Government owned and contractor operated. –Government turns to these public private partnerships (Federally-Funded Research & Development Centers [FFRDCs]) to deliver on unique national missions. The one exception is the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)

DOE runs the FFRDCs under Management and Operations (M&O) contracts – This defines the contractual nature of the relationship between the government and the labs and how we conduct business together.

Contractors may be individual universities, university consortia, private companies, or nonprofits. The GOCO model dates back to the original laboratories of the Manhattan Project.

GOCO researchers are not Federal employees and have more freedom than GOGO (Government Owned/ Government Operated) scientists. GOCO employees can assert copyrights, consult with industry, and participate in start-ups based on technology developed at the laboratory.

What is a GOCO?

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Technology Transfer Mechanisms

Technology Transfer Mechanisms at DOE Facilities

https://www.inl.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Revised-Guide-Partnering-with-National-Labs-Final.pdf

Technology Commercialization Fund

The TCF provides matching funds with private partners to promote promising energy technologies for commercial purposes

OTT manages the execution of the Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF), as mandated by Sec 1001 of EPAct 2005

The initial round of funding was provided in FY 2016

FY 2016: $19.7M -- 54 projects from 104 proposals funded at 12 national labs ($15.9M), including matching funds ($16.9M) from 52 private-sector partners

FY 2017: 54 projects from 136 proposals funded at 12 national labs ($19M), with matching funds ($34M) from more than 30 private-sector partners

For FY 2018:

• Conduct the third round of funding for TCF through solicitation of proposals from the national laboratories

• Continue execution of a TCF evaluation, which will track the FY 2016, 2017 and 2018 projects to assess processes/management and to ascertain program outcomes and effectiveness

• Monitor the progress of activities funded in previous rounds

Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF)

Energy.gov/technologytransitions6

Technology to Market (T2M)

Build4Scale• Provides manufacturing training and partnerships for energy entrepreneurs to

encourage on-shore manufacturing and efficient scale up – possible follow on activity to Energy I-Corps (http://build4scale.org/)

Energy I-Corps• Develops industry engagement skills for lab researchers (https://energyicorps.energy.gov/)

Small Business Vouchers (SBV)• Supports technical partnerships between labs and small businesses, lower barrier to

small business access to National Labs (https://gain.inl.gov/SitePages/Home.aspx)

• Up and running for nuclear energy program (GAIN); run in the past for energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, and renewable power programs

Energy Investor Center (EIC)• Facilitate connections and partnerships with investors of all stripes – from VCs to

strategic corporates to entrepreneurs

Lab Partnering Service (LPS)• Easily navigable access to DOE Lab SMEs and IP (https://www.labpartnering.org/)

Other Resources

Energy.gov/technologytransitions7

Visual Patent Search

Licensable IPConnect with

An Expert

Lab Partnering Service (LPS)

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Lab Partnering Service (LPS)

LabPartnering.org

Lab Partnering Service (LPS)

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Thank You

Marcos Gonzales HarshaDeputy Director, EIC

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