Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 02/2010

U.S. Public Energy Innovation Institutions and Mechanisms: Status & Deficiencies

Laura Anadon, Matthew Bunn, Charles Jones, Venkatesh Narayanamurti

January 2010

Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University

Abstract

The United States needs to transform the way it produces and uses energy. This will require the improvement of current technologies and the development of new ones. To achieve the maximum payoff for public investments in energy technology innovation, the United States will need to improve and better align the management and structure of existing and new energy innovation institutions, and better connect R&D to demonstration and deployment. In what follows, we highlight three general and important recommendations for thinking about different initiatives, and we discuss the merits and challenges of current and new institutions, and the remaining gaps in the U.S. energy innovation system.