Blog post from the Clean Energy Investment Center, September 1, 2016.

Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Investment Center (CEIC), in conjunction with leadership from India, co-hosted a Clean Energy Investment Roundtable in New Delhi, India on August 29, 2016. The theme of the Roundtable was the importance of innovation and investment in early stage technologies.

The Roundtable was held less than a half hour drive from the Mughal era Red Fort – a landmark known for representing the zenith of Mughal Empire’s creativity. There, Deputy Secretary of Energy, Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall and CEIC’s Director Dr Sanjiv Malhotra, presented to a group of nearly 50 attendees who represent the zenith of clean energy innovation in India. Those in attendance spanned the entire spectrum of clean energy stakeholders including multinational conglomerates, government entities, innovative startups, foundations and strategic investors.

U.S. Ambassador to India, Richard Verma gave opening remarks to the Roundtable. Then, Deputy Secretary of Energy, Liz Sherwood-Randall provided keynote remarks followed by a talk by Dr. Malhotra on Innovation and the importance of marketing of innovation at the Roundtable. Deputy Secretary Dr.Sherwood-Randall and CEIC Director Dr. Malhotra engaged in an interactive discussion with the attendees on mutually important topics to the United States and India, including tools and resources needed to enable commercialization of clean energy technologies, lessons learned from successes and failures from the clean energy sector, challenges associated with early stage investment, and candidly discussing the future of energy innovation. SPOILER ALERT: the future of energy innovation is fascinating. Much like innovation in telecommunications from landline to wireless, or innovation in music from cassette players to instant streaming, innovation in energy is coming; it will be unlike anything we’ve ever seen!

The speakers and attendees emphasized the significance of Public-Private Partnerships. Everyone agreed on the power of innovation, and believed innovation can positively impact cross-border alliances.  Many participants left the Roundtable eager to collaborate with CEIC and to learn more about our model for enabling private sector investment in spurring innovation.

That’s it for now CEIC friends and followers. But it is not nearly the end of our journey; next stop, Seoul, South Korea and the 2016 Energy & Tech Conference where CEIC delivered a keynote address on Mission Innovation and its global perspective. Stay tuned!

The Clean Energy Investment Center is part of the Office of Technology Transitions, whose mission is to expand the commercial impact of DOE’s portfolio of Research, Development, Demonstration and Deployment (RDD&D) activities over the short, medium and long term.