The Department of Energy has a new program, dubbed “America’s Next Top Energy Innovator,” that would drastically reduce the costs for startup energy companies of licensing any of the roughly 15,000 patents held by the federal government’s National Laboratories, where basic scientific research is done.

The program allows startups to license up to three National Laboratories patents for just $1,000 each, between May 2 and Dec. 15. Normally those patents cost from $10,000 to $50,000 to obtain. The plan would also simplify the technology-licensing process, making it easier and cheaper for startups to develop new products.

“We’re challenging entrepreneurs to move technologies invented in our National Laboratories out of the lab and into the marketplace,” Stephen Chu said. Examples of those technologies, he noted, range from software that helps reduce energy use in buildings to ways of converting solar power into thermal energy on demand.

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Brian Wang

Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.

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