Long considered an innovation powerhouse, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has supported some of the most integral technological breakthroughs of the past century. In recent years policymakers and advocates have become interested in DOD’s investments in clean energy innovation. Despite this ongoing interest, there has been little effort to communicate the characteristics of DOD’s investments to determine their potential impacts on national clean energy policy. As a supplementary report to ITIF’s 2011 report, and using ITIF’s Energy Innovation Tracker –a free and publicly accessible data source capturing all federal investments in energy innovation – this report finds that DOD has invested $5 billion in clean energy innovation since 2009, indicating potential commercial spillover effects when mission-oriented research and procurement investment align.
