Purpose of the Workshop Day:
A one-day, pre-Summit program focusing on helping scientific researchers, technology entrepreneurs, and corporate and venture investors gain strategic insights into ARPA-E’s program directions and other Department of Energy programs. Participants will: (i) be briefed about existing and future program priorities, (ii) learn the key criteria used in evaluating proposals, (iii) meet and ask questions directly of ARPA-E Program Directors, and (iv) gain insights into energy technology commercialization.

Benefits:

• Learn about the Agency’s existing and potential future funding programs
• Understand what ARPA-E Program Directors are looking for in winning research proposals
• Learn more about SBIR funding opportunities, technology transfer, and commercialization

9:00 – 9:30 Director’s Welcome
ARPA-E Director Arun Majumdar will provide an overview of ARPA-E’s vision and strategy.

9:30 – 10:30 ARPA-E: Past and Present - View Material (PDF 2.8 MB)
Panel discussion with ARPA-E’s current Program Directors on how ARPA-E conducted its first funding opportunity and is planning its future programs.

• Arun Majumdar, Director, ARPA-E (moderator)
• Shane Kosinski, Deputy Director for Operations, ARPA-E
• David Danielson, Program Director, ARPA-E
• Mark Hartney, Program Director, ARPA-E
• Eric Toone, Program Director, ARPA-E

10:30 – 11:00 Morning Break

11:00 – 12:15 Morning Tutorial
Session 1: Energy Technology Commercialization
The basics of commercializing breakthrough energy technologies, with a view of the full life cycle of commercialization, including how to find good entrepreneurs and how to start a company.

• Srini Mirmira, Program Director, ARPA-E (moderator)
• Ric Fulop, Co-Founder, A123 Systems
• Neal Hunter, Co-Founder and former CEO, Cree Inc.
• Jesko von Windheim, CEO, Nextreme Thermal Solutions
• Peter Barris, Managing General Partner, New Enterprise Associates

Session 2: How to take advantage of SBIR (and other DOE funding opportunities)
Overview of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR ) program at DOE as well as other DOE funding opportunities available for energy innovators.

• Kristina Johnson, Under Secretary of Energy, U.S. Department of Energy

12:15 – 1:45 Lunch

1:45 – 3:15 Afternoon Workshop: Breakout with ARPA-E’s Program Directors
Discuss the outcome of recent ARPA-E workshops conducted by ARPA-E Program Directors and other staff in four technology areas.
Session 1: Grid Scale Energy Storage Program - View Material (PDF 3.7 MB)

• Mark Johnson, Program Director, ARPA-E
• David Danielson, Program Director, ARPA-E

Session 2: Building Efficiency Technologies - View Material (PDF 2.2 MB)

• Ravi Prasher, Technology Development Manager, Intel Corporation
• Colin McCormick, Building Technologies Program, U.S. Department of Energy

Session 3: Power Electronics - View Material (PDF 3.2 MB)

• Rajeev Ram, Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Session 4: Energy Recovery from Wastewater - View Material (PDF 1.6 MB)

• Mark Shannon, Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

3:15 – 3:45 Afternoon Break

3:45 – 5:00 Afternoon Tutorial
Session 1: Best Practices in Technology Transfer: Moving Ideas (and Idea-Makers) Out of the Lab
Best practices in moving technologies (and researchers) out of national laboratories and universities for commercialization. For entrepreneurs and investors: how can you access exciting technologies (and inventors) in the national labs and in universities?

• Scott Blake Harris, General Counsel, U.S. Department of Energy (opening overview)
• Karina Edmonds, Director, Technology Transfer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology
  (and incoming Technology Transfer Coordinator, U.S. Department of Energy) (moderator)
• Mike Davis, Associate Laboratory Director for Energy and Environment, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
• Vern Norviel, Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
• Paul Gottlieb, Assistant General Counsel for Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property, U.S. Department of Energy

Session 2: Next Generation Energy Entrepreneurs
This panel will feature the inspirational stories of some of the next generation of U.S. energy entrepreneurs who are creating companies to move their disruptive energy technologies to the market.

• David Danielson, Program Director, ARPA-E (moderator)
• Riccardo Signorelli, Founder and President, FastCAP Systems
• Bunmi Adekore, Founder and CTO, LumenZ, Inc.
• Chris Rivest, Co-Founder, SunPrint, Inc.

5:00 – 6:00 Technology Showcase
Showcase of over 100 exciting energy technologies, featuring awardees and top-ranking applicants from ARPA-E’s first solicitation as well as a select set of additional technologies.

6:00 – 7:30 Summit Opening Reception and Technology Showcase
Reception around the Technology Showcase of over 100 exciting technologies.