ARPA-E sees some success from basic energy research to societal impact

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ARPA-E sees some success from basic energy research to societal impact

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oving promising scientific outcomes from basic research to real societal impact is both capital-intensive and time-consuming. Add to these challenges an existing infrastructure and widely adopted incumbent technologies, and it is easy to understand why technology advancements within the energy sector often fall short of large-scale market adoption. While a wide range of new discoveries in the energy sector show significant promise, “the translation of these discoveries to impactful technologies requires much more than the basic discovery—and a thoughtful approach to evaluating and de-risking them is required since no one has infinite resources to pursue them

all,” says Mark Hartney, CTO of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) was created to address the challenges in proving out promising results of basic research to rapidly move forward with technology advancements that have the potential to impact society. Established within the US Department of Energy (DOE) in 2007 and first funded in 2009, ARPA-E is authorized to “overcome the longterm and high-risk technological barriers in the development of energy technologies.” Modeled on the successful Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), ARPA-E was created to enable the United States to maintain technological lead across the energy sector with specific focus on decreasing energy imports, reducing energy-related emissions, and improving energy efficiency. Programs within ARPA-E consist of a collection of related projects that are led by teams of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs—a public/private partnership. According to Eric Schiff, ARPA-E program director, the programs are not simply funding sources but “efforts at thought leadership.” Schiff says that the programs “identify important areas for energy research investment and provide credible scientific and engineering rationales for this investment.” Each project is evaluated quarterly against technical milestones to assess progress. “Materials innovation is A prototype hybrid microscale concentrated photovoltaic a key theme across many of (micro-CPV) solar array developed for an ARPA-E project. the activities at ARPA-E,” Image courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy.

says Paul Albertus, ARPA-E program director; about half of all ARPA-E programs depend on materials-related discoveries and advancements (see MRS Bulletin, May 2017). Albertus also points out that support such as that provided by ARPA-E is especially important in materials science because “materials development remains time-intensive and expensive, and true breakthroughs are few and far between, making industrial support very limited.” ARPA-E’s structure and research program requirements are set up to help bridge the gap between the promising discovery in the laboratory and the point when the new energy technology can attract follow-on funding. Program directors, fellows, and tech-to-market advisors are hired f