New Online ‘Energy Innovation Network’

Posted by: Mark Marich on March 01, 2010 Source: Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship

The Kauffman Foundation has launched an online “Energy Innovation Network” to help close the gap between energy innovations and increasing consumer demand.

The clean energy industry is taking an ever-increasing role in jump-starting the economy and creating new jobs; more than $80 billion has already been invested in U.S. clean energy development and an additional $150 billion is being proposed. Yet significant barriers plague this highly regulated, complex sector that prevent it from making the kind of progress that such high expectations demand.

The Kauffman Foundation launched the Energy Innovation Network (www.energyinnovationnetwork.org) as an entrepreneur-driven solution at today’s Energy Innovation Summit co-hosted by the Kauffman Foundation and the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy. The online network will match researchers, entrepreneurs, buyers, investors and decision-makers to support high-growth energy businesses. More specifically, the Energy Innovation Network will:

-    Connect entrepreneurs with researchers who can develop new technologies
-    Link startups with energy buyers
-    Help corporations find energy partners
-    Inform states that want to enact policies that will encourage clean energy  development
-    Enable regions to scale state-level innovation strategies

The network will also provide policymakers with information that will help them develop programs that can support clean energy entrepreneurship.

“Few industries have had to overcome the high capital requirements, regulatory hurdles and variety of stakeholders that clean energy is facing,” said Lesa Mitchell, vice president of Advancing Innovation at the Kauffman Foundation. “While there may be an energy innovation imperative, there is no energy innovation mechanism. The Energy Innovation Network will help close the gap between demand and delivery.”

“Using their connections through the Energy Innovation Network, entrepreneurs will be able to address policy, finance and market structure issues early in their business development, which will help them scale sooner and more quickly,” said Kimberly de los Santos, Kauffman Foundation program consultant.  

Category:  Energy