Meeting the President's Challenge on Clean Energy at the ARPA-E Summit
Posted by Dr. Arun Majumdar on January 31, 2011 at 03:21 PM EST
Ed. Note: Cross posted from the Department of Energy blog.
Last week, President Obama told us in his
2011 State of the Union
address that “we need to out-innovate the rest of the world”,
especially in clean energy technology. As it turns out, energy
innovators across the country are already working on doing just that.
Hundreds of these energy leaders will be converging at a conference that
the Department of Energy’s
Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) is hosting one month from now.
From February 28 – March 2, ARPA-E and partner organizations will host the second annual
ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit
at the Gaylord Convention Center, just outside Washington, DC. The
event is designed to bring together key players from across the energy
ecosystem – researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, corporate executives
and government officials – to share ideas for developing and deploying
the next generation of clean energy technologies.
One of the Summit’s biggest draws is the
Technology Showcase,
where attendees can see firsthand more than 200 groundbreaking
technologies that are poised to help America win the future. At the
Technology Showcase, investors can meet entrepreneurs and scout for
technologies to fund, researchers can form partnerships and share ideas
to improve their work and large corporations can learn about the latest
product innovations that could lead to future business. Bringing all
these groups together makes the Summit a perfect catalyst for solving
the world’s energy challenges.
In addition to getting a glimpse of some of tomorrow’s technologies,
attendees will have the opportunity to hear from energy leaders such as
Energy Secretary Steven Chu, U.S. Navy Secretary Raymond Mabus, Bank of
America Chairman and former DuPont CEO Charles (Chad) O. Holliday, Jr.
and many other notable
speakers and panelists.
Last week, the President told us that “we’ve begun to reinvent our
energy policy. We’re not just handing out money. We’re issuing a
challenge.” Hundreds of the leaders who are stepping up to this
challenge will be at the 2011 Summit. I hope you will join us.
The 2011 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit is being co-hosted by
ARPA-E, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Clean Technology and
Sustainable Industries Organization, with support from the National
Venture Capital Association and the Kauffman Foundation.
Dr. Arun Majumdar is the Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) at the Department of Energy