Overcoming Challenges to Getting Clean Energy Technologies to Market Overcoming energy and environmental challenges will require significant ‘hardware’ innovation in chemistry, materials, manufacturing, and machinery. Yet venture capital and other elements of our startup support infrastructure have been optimized for software and other capital-light technologies. Meanwhile, there is no shortage of promising inventions and research findings coming out of U.S. universities with the potential to disrupt the energy industry; however, the pathway out the lab and into the market is especially complex and challenging to navigate in this sector. Johanna Wolfson from PRIME will join us to speak about the challenges that clean energy technologies face in getting to market, and to discuss various strategies to overcoming those challenges. A high-level overview of options available to early-stage spinouts will be provided. In particular, Dr. Wolfson will discuss the energy innovation system in the U.S., strategies for improving it, and describe PRIME’s new model for financing early-stage hardware startups with philanthropic capital. About the Speaker Johanna Wolfson is Principal at the PRIME Impact Fund, backing breakthrough climate-focused ventures with philanthropic capital. She joined PRIME from her role as Director of Technology-to-Market in the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). Her work at DOE included testing new models for financing and commercialization, launching entrepreneurs and new businesses out of universities and National Labs, and supporting early-stage clean energy businesses with funding, training, and technical resources. Prior to DOE, Johanna was with the Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems where she led TechBridge, a technical validation and demonstration program that de-risks promising early-stage energy technologies prior to investment. Johanna has a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from MIT, where she conducted research on photo-induced solid-state dynamics. |