Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the launch of a new program “Energy Innovation Hubs.”  The program is modeled after the DOE’s Bioenergy Research Centers which were established to accelerate the research and development of cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels.  The Energy Innovation Hubs are intended to foster the development of early-stage technologies to the point where they can successfully commercialize in the private sector.

This Hub Concept is not a new one.  The DOE’s website notes, “Energy Innovation Hubs represent a structure modeled after the forceful centralized scientific management characteristics of the Manhattan Project (e.g., Los Alamos and the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago), Lincoln Lab at MIT that developed radar, and AT&T Bell laboratories that developed the transistor.”

The Energy Innovation Hub strategy represents the third approach the DOE has recently established to accelerate the commercialization of breakthrough energy technologies.  The other two programs are the Energy Frontier Research Centers and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). All three of these strategies aim to avoid the “valley of death” problem faced by capital-intensive innovations that have high costs of technology demonstration – a challenge that often prevents breakthrough technologies from market penetration. During the FY2010 year each hub will receive a total of $22 million, and will be provided with a “substantial” five-year funding stream. The collaborative nature of the Hubs encourages integrated teams from varied disciplines to work together to solve energy technology challenges that range from primary research to engineering development to commercialization readiness.

We at Ze-gen think this is an exciting new addition to the DOE’s funding strategy.  Ze-gen continues to be an advocate for the development of green energy centers where innovative new companies can share resources as they develop and demonstrate clean energy technology.  Sustainable industrial parks and green energy research centers offer the nation the ability to accelerate the commercialization of transformative technologies.  The centralized nature of such Energy Innovation Hubs and Green Energy Industrial Parks helps to ensure that the new capital-intensive technologies survive the difficult period between laboratory testing and commercialization and flourish in the marketplace.