The ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit (The Summit) is an annual conference and technology showcase that brings together experts from different technical disciplines and professional communities to think about America’s energy challenges in new and innovative ways. Now in its thirteenth year, the Summit offers a unique, three-day program aimed at moving transformational energy technologies out of the lab and into the market.
The summit is taking place at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, National Harbor, Maryland.
Agenda: Day One | Day Two | Day Three
10:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.
Opening Remarks & Keynote Address
Evelyn Wang, Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA‑E)
10:15 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.
Fireside Chat
Jennifer M. Granholm, U.S. Secretary of Energy , U.S. Department of Energy
Dr. Shreya Dave, Chief Executive Officer , Via Separations
Dr. Leah Ellis, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Sublime Systems
Joe Zhou, Chief Executive Officer, Quidnet Energy
10:50 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Fireside Chat
Don Graves, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce
David Turk, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy
11:15 a.m. – 11:35 a.m.
Keynote Address
Ernest J. Moniz, MIT Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems, Post-Tenure
11:35 a.m. – 11:55 a.m.
Fireside Chat
Arati Prabhakar, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology
Dr. David M. Hart, Professor of Public Policy, Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University
11:55 a.m. – 12:10 p.m.
Keynote Address
Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures
11:45 a.m. – 1:45 p.m.
Government Agency Networking Program (GANP)
The Government Agency Networking Program (GANP) at the annual ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit provides an opportunity to meet with representatives from federal government agencies to discuss research interests, funding solicitations, grants, and other potential partnership opportunities.
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Fast Pitch: Batteries & Storage
Dr. Peter de Bock, Program Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
Dr. Halle Cheeseman, Program Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
Dr. Julia Greenwald, Fellow, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
Dr. Jack Lewnard, Program Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
Dr. Laurent Pilon, Program Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Lab to Impact: Maximizing Success with Technology Licensing Offices
In this panel, we will delve into best practices for how and when to engage with Technology Licensing Offices, and what common pitfalls to avoid. We will hear from a diversity of stakeholders representing an inventor, investor, lawyer, and licensing office, who will share their successes and failures – drawing from decades of experience. Whether you are looking to spin out a startup or license a technology, this panel will help provide practical takeaways on how to maximize success and impact.
Dr. Christina Chang, Partner, Lowercarbon Capital
Dylan Adams, Patent Attorney, Davis Wright Tremaine
Dr. Yet-Ming Chiang, Co-Founder, Form Energy, Sublime Systems, Desktop Metal, 24M Technologies and A123 Systems
Deirdre Zammit, Associate Director, Licensing, MIT Technology Licensing Office
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy Given the Recent Achievement of Ignition at the National Ignition Facility
This panel will address the following questions about the prospects for inertial fusion energy (IFE): Can lasers be made efficient enough to enable a commercial IFE power plant? Can targets be made inexpensively and at scale? Are the physics challenges going from indirect drive (as is done on the National Ignition Facility) to direct drive (or another concept) tractable?
Dr. Tammy Ma, Lead, Intertial Fusion Energy Initiative, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Dr. Kramer Akli, Program Manager, DOE Office of Science
Dr. Carly Anderson, Principal, Prelude Ventures
Dr. Susana Reyes, VP of Chamber and Plant Design, Xcimer Energy
3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Fast Pitch: Industrial Processes
Dr. Katharine Greco, Fellow, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
Dr. Jonathan Melville, Fellow, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
Dr. James Seaba, Program Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
Dr. Douglas Wicks, Program Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
Dr. Olga Blum Spahn, Program Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Decarbonizing the “Bus Stop” of the Future: Innovations in Urban Transportation
As cities strive to reduce carbon emissions and improve urban transportation, defining the “bus stop” of the future, and with it, the necessary technology innovations and infrastructure, is becoming increasingly important. In high population density areas, where large metro systems are not available, the energy implications of the shift towards electrified and on-demand mobility options must be considered. Ride-hailing services currently optimize for pick-up proximity, but what does the equivalent approach for passenger transit look like in these situations and what role does energy efficiency need to play when the most convenient option is continued reliance on privately owned, personally driven cars? How does the increase in car sales during the pandemic further factor into future solutions? This thought-provoking panel will explore the disruptive innovations and flexible options that can address the energy consumption of future modes of urban transportation and tackle the question of how to ensure equity for all.
Dr. Robert Hampshire, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research & Technology, U.S. Department of Transportation
Benjamin de la Peña, Chief Executive Officer, Shared-Use Mobility Center
Carolyn Gonot, General Manager/Chief Executive Officer, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
Gabe Klein, Executive Director, U.S. Joint Office of Energy and Transportation
3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Beyond VC: Alternative Funding Sources for Startups
Panelists from a range of non-dilutive (federal, state and non-profit) and “less-dilutive” (venture debt, in various structures) funding sources will discuss how energy- and climate-tech startups can navigate non-traditional funding sources to best support their companies’ growth plans.
Hilary Flynn, Managing Director, Investments, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center
Jackie Logan, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Raise Green
Max Tuttman, Principal, The Ad Hoc Group
Jonah Wagner, Chief Strategist, Department of Energy Loan Program Office National Harbor 10
5:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.
Tech Demo: Advanced Operation & Maintenance Techniques implemented in the Xe-100 Plant Digital Twin to reduce Fixed O&M Cost
X-energy is an Advanced Reactor design company and an awardee of the ARPA-E GEMINA Program. The main objective of the GEMINA Program is to demonstrate how Digital Twins can reduce Fixed Operations & Maintenance (O&M) costs for the Advanced Reactors (i.e. the Xe-100). X-energy’s 3D Immersive Digital Twin Experience demonstrates the integration between the physics-based Xe-100 Simulator and a 3D virtual representation of the Xe-100 plant. Users can walk through and interact with the Virtual Reality (VR) model as if it were the real Xe-100 plant. During the design phases of the Xe-100, the 3D model is being used for iterative design reviews to incorporate feedback, optimize layouts, and inform future work. During the operation phase of the Xe-100, the 3D model will be used for training of plant staff, particularly Maintenance crews. Combined with X-DATAâ„¢, X-energy’s Digital Twin product, the 3D Immersive Environment supports the implementation of “Central Maintenance” concepts that will ultimately lead to a safer, more reliable, and more economic nuclear plant for the 21st century.
5:45 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Tech Demo: Low-cost non-destructive plant root phenotyping
Tomographic Electrical Rhizosphere Imager (TERI) is a technology aiming to make plant root phenotyping easier and faster. Root digging, washing, photographing, counting, and analysis have been the standard practice for field scale root phenotyping for a very long time. This is a process that is low throughput and very time and labor consuming. TERI aims to disrupt this practice to significantly accelerate plant root phenotyping at field scales to help accelerate the development of new root-superior plant varieties that are more resource efficient and climate resilient. TERI technology is based on the dialectic properties and behavior of plant root systems and can work under almost any type of soil, moisture, and plant species conditions. The lightweight of the hardware system and the user-friendly software interface make the system very easy to use by anyone without the technical background.
6:30 p.m. – 6:45 p.m.
Tech Demo: Basin-SCAN: Basin Scale Continuous oil and gas emissions mitigAtion Network
Founded in 2018 through the ARPA-E MONITOR program, LongPath Technologies is the “5G” of methane measurement and abatement, providing a proven and standardized approach across the value chain. Our specialized laser systems detect, locate and quantify site-level emissions across 20+ square mile regions with a single laser tower, and the continuous emissions monitoring networks provide actionable real-time alerts and quantitative emission rates to oil and gas operators. LongPath’s innovative regional-scale solution provides continuous, reliable data at the lowest cost to the customer.
7:15 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Tech Demo: Pilot Production for Commercial Sampling of Rare-Earth-Free Iron Nitride Permanent Magnets
Niron Magnetics has developed the first powerful permanent magnets free of rare earths and other critical materials. Niron’s Iron Nitride-based Clean Earth Magnet® technology makes use of globally available commodity raw material inputs. As an ARPA-E SCALEUP awardee, Niron is expanding its pilot production to support commercial design partnerships, including those with GM, Volvo Cars, Western Digital, Tymphany Audio, and Premium Sound Solutions.