Responding to the nation?s concerns related to the long term sustainable supply of affordable, environmentally acceptable sources of energy, Federal and State funding agencies, including the National Science Foundation have substantially increased the opportunities for sustainable energy related research by the nation?s universities and research institutions. Opportunities now exist for large scale collaborations to form and compete for major research centers such as the NSF Engineering Research Centers program. Concurrently and in response to this direction, almost every major research university in the United States has formed one or more research group that focuses on some aspect of this topic. The research universities of the Upper Midwest EPSCoR states are no exception to this trend.
Intellectual Merit In order to compete for major research centers, EPSCoR state sustainable energy research groups need to: 1) highlight their technological achievements, expertise, and interests in sustainable energy to other researchers; 2) develop relationships/connections with researchers at other institutions, 3) gain knowledge and experience in formulating and planning major energy research programs, 4) establish a network of commercial technology enabling entities and technology end user companies that are an important and necessary component of major research centers, and 5) gain information on how to partner with tribal colleges and minority serving institutions. Like most EPSCoR state universities, the schools of the Upper Midwest EPSCoR states lack the internal experience and resources to easily and effectively establish the necessary ingredients to compete for major research centers. The objective of this workshop and action summit, which we proposed to conduct in June 2010, is to address these four areas of need through a series of speakers, breakout sessions, roundtable discussions, and networking activities over the course of two days. Our objective is to bring together virtually all of the energy-related research groups in the Upper Midwest EPSCoR states along with funding agency representatives, representatives from current, successful centers, national labs, underrepresented groups, and business leaders. From this meeting it is hoped that EPSCoR researchers will have a better understanding of the state of sustainable energy technology and that contacts will be made and partnerships formed to facilitate major research center proposal activities by the participating research groups.
Broader Impacts The technical sessions will include five focus areas: renewable fuels, chemicals and materials; energy from diffuse sources: geothermal, solar, and wind; the sustainable use of coal and carbon capture; energy conservation technologies; and novel energy technologies (anything that doesn?t fit in the other areas). Other sessions include technology transfer, working with venture capital groups, partnering with national labs, establishing relationships with minority serving institutions (MSIs), working with tribal organizations, finding research partnerships, the role of technology/business incubators, and EPSCoR?s role in facilitating major research center proposal activities. Participants from EPSCoR universities as well as MSIs will be encouraged to participate and travel fellowships will be used to facilitate their participation.
Responding to the nation’s concerns related to the long term sustainable supply of affordable, environmentally acceptable sources of energy, Federal and State funding agencies, including the National Science Foundation have substantially increased the opportunities for sustainable energy related research by the nation’s universities and research institutions. Opportunities now exist for large scale collaborations to form and compete for major research centers such as the NSF Engineering Research Centers program. Concurrently and in response to this direction, almost every major research university in the United States has formed one or more research group that focuses on some aspect of this topic. The research universities of the Upper Midwest EPSCoR states are no exception to this trend. In order to compete for major research centers, EPSCoR state sustainable energy research groups need to: 1) highlight their technological achievements, expertise, and interests in sustainable energy to other researchers; 2) develop relationships/connections with researchers at other institutions, 3) gain knowledge and experience in formulating and planning major energy research programs, 4) establish a network of commercial technology enabling entities and technology end user companies that are an important and necessary component of major research centers, and 5) gain information on how to partner with tribal colleges and minority serving institutions. Another objective of the workshop was to showcase the "SUNRISE (Sustainable Energy Research Initiative and Supporting Education program) story" – how SUNRISE became a legitimate "supercluster" and the research portfolio SUNRISE is executing. To address these objectives, SUNRISE, under the sponsorship of the ND EPSCoR program and in collaboration with the UND Center for Innovation (a business and entrepreneurship incubator center), planned and implemented the CLEANTECH 2011 Workshop and Action Summit. There were 133 participants from 11 states including eight EPSCoR jurisdictions. Major funding for CLEANTECH 2011 was obtained from the NSF EPSCoR program and the Red River Valley Research Corridor (RRVRC) Coordinating Center of North Dakota. Additional sponsors were the UND Office of Research and Economic Development, the Grand Forks Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, the UND School of Engineering and Mines, the UND School of Business and Public Administration, XCEL Energy, and Raymond James Financial. CLEANTECH 2011 included speakers, breakout sessions, roundtable discussions, and networking activities over the course of two days. The technical sessions included four focus areas: renewable fuels, chemicals and materials; energy from diffuse sources: geothermal, solar, and wind; the sustainable use of coal and carbon capture; and novel energy technologies. Other sessions include technology transfer, working with venture capital groups, partnering with national labs, establishing relationships with minority serving institutions (MSIs), working with tribal organizations, finding research partnerships, the role of technology / business incubators, and EPSCoR’s role in facilitating major research center proposal activities. Participants from EPSCoR universities as well as MSIs were provided travel fellowships to facilitate their participation. The combination of the research community and the business community created very real synergies. For example, many of the key venture capital and other business leaders at the conference were surprised to hear that junior faculty researchers were more concerned about the impact of technology development and commercialization on their progress towards tenure than on the success of having their technology make it into the marketplace. Conversely, the researchers were surprised to learn that venture capitalists were more concerned about the quality of the business planning and leadership team for the proposed technology development project than the merits of the technology itself. The "SUNRISE story" was disseminated effectively through one featured presentation, technical breakout sessions, and an information booth. Many participants, including NSF Program officers were surprised by the size, scope, success, and diversity of SUNRISE. The quality and breadth of the conference-wide speakers and panels was considered a strength of the conference.
