• Number 328  |
• January 10, 2011

Energy Innovation Portal links energy technologies with market opportunities

Technology seekers know that finding that new "aha" technology can be like finding a proverbial needle in a haystack. To help simplify this, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory developed the Energy Innovation Portal for DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE). Those interested in breakthroughs in renewable energy and energy efficiency can leverage this Web site to quickly access technologies developed by DOE laboratories and partner research institutions.

The Portal serves as a window into the laboratories, featuring marketing summaries for select technologies and access to information on more than 14,000 patents and patent applications that have been created using DOE funding since 1992. The site streamlines a search for specific technologies, allowing the user to browse by subject area or laboratory, and connects technology seekers to the proper licensing contact through marketing summary pages. 

"A patent is a legal document written from a legal perspective — what we wanted to do was create and include the marketing summaries written by the labs that tout the technology features, potential applications in the market, advantages, diagrams, and contact info," NREL Technology Commercialization Program Manager Matt Ringer said. "You won't see one of these summaries for every patent; rather we wanted the laboratories to be able to highlight the technologies they wanted to focus on, so that technologies seekers could find them."

In addition to accessing these technology summaries, from the site you can also subscribe to updates, send feedback, and get the Portal widget to feature the Portal on your own Web site. The Energy Innovation Portal is one of the most effective ways for investors, entrepreneurs and companies to utilize the resources of the DOE laboratories. Another portal widget available from the homepage - http://techportal.eere.energy.gov/getWidget.do.  keeps a running total of technologies found on the Portal and is a great way to showcase technologies that are coming out of the DOE labs..

[George Douglas, 303.275.4096
george.douglas@nrel.gov]