Climate-Tech RD&D

The Impact of China’s Production Surge on Innovation in the Global Solar Photovoltaics Industry
China’s subsidy-aided rise to dominance in PV manufacturing has driven prices way down, but at the cost of undermining promising alternative technological pathways. Policymakers should adopt measures to sustain greater diversity in PV and similar technologies.
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For brief bios and links to the home pages of participants in ITIF’s energy innovation “boot camp,” see our early career scholars page.

Climate-Tech RD&D
Check a box to narrow search for individual content items that cover numerous issues.
July 24, 2018
Don’t Let Potential Environmental Concerns Stop Supersonics from Achieving Lift-off
U.S. policymakers should continue down this path to create more permissive and updated rules for SSTs. Only by allowing the technology to achieve lift-off will policymakers be able to spur investment in supersonic technology and improve its efficiency and effectiveness, writes Alan McQuinn in Innovation Files.
July 23, 2018
Fact of the Week: Projects Funded by ARPA-E are More Likely To Produce a Patent and Scientific Publication than Projects Funded by Other DOE Programs
Traditional theories of innovation stress the division between “basic” and “applied” research, and this division is embedded in federal R&D policy: The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science (DOE-SC) conduct basic research, while DOE’s energy technology offices fund applied research and development.
July 23, 2018
When Does Environmental Regulation Stimulate Technological Innovation?
There’s no magic bullet to ensure firms will respond to environmental regulation by innovating. But a literature review shows certain conditions that will raise that likelihood, pointing the way to some important rules of thumb for policymakers.
July 1, 2018
Small Business Voucher Program Helps Accelerate Energy Innovation
As David Hart and Stephen Ezell writes for Crain’s Cleveland Business, bringing the Energy Department’s voucher program to all national labs could help small businesses across the country.
June 27, 2018
New Ideas for Strengthening Partnerships at DOE National Labs
ITIF hosted an expert discussion how the Department of Energy (DOE) can best foster innovation.
June 26, 2018
Department of Energy RD&D Appropriations, Fiscal Year 2019
As the Fiscal Year 2019 appropriations bills head to conference committee, Congress should maintain its commitment to federal investment in energy research, development, and demonstration.
April 30, 2018
Policymakers Must Beware of Technology Lock-in for Energy Storage
Today’s grid-scale battery market is dominated by a single family of technologies. But as ITIF’s David Hart and MIT’s William Bonvillian write for The Hill, long term clean energy innovation will require a diverse array of alternative energy storage technologies.
April 13, 2018
DOE Research, Development and Demonstration Funding: Keep on Growin'
As Congress considers the next budget, ITIF’s David Hart and Colin Cunliff write for Utility Dive that it should reject cuts to spending on energy research, development and demonstration.
February 6, 2018
To Build a Battery Industry, New York Needs Help from Washington
Governor Cuomo's battery plan is pointed in the right direction. But as David Hart writes for the Syracuse Post-Standard, it won't get near the finish line without help from Washington to constrain China.
December 20, 2017
A Department of Energy Foundation: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
DOE invests about $14 billion per year in its 17 national research laboratories. That is a lot of money, and it supports many brilliant minds, but too often the ideas these investments lead to, and the skills that they nurture, are trapped inside the fence line of the labs.

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