Congressman Dan Lipinski (IL-3) is announcing that the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Lab-Corps program has launched a second round of clean energy entrepreneurship training sessions.  The $2.3 million program, started in 2014 with the help of Lipinski, is based on the National Science Foundation’s highly successful Innovation Corps (I-Corps) model that trains university-based faculty and students.  Lab-Corps aims to accelerate the transfer of clean energy technologies from our national laboratories – including Argonne National Lab in Lemont – to the commercial marketplace by training lab researchers to successfully transition their discoveries into high-impact, real world technologies.  This is part of Lipinski’s ongoing efforts to increase American jobs by taking advantage of the innovations created with the help of federally-funded research.  In doing so, not only are more jobs created, but Americans get a better return on the investment of their tax dollars. 

“The I-Corps program was initially developed from a course conceived by Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur Steve Blank, and has led to the creation of many new companies in its short existence,” stated Rep. Lipinski.  “As the top Democrat on the Research and Technology Subcommittee of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, I advocated for the development of this program and urged the Energy Secretary to allow scientists at Argonne to participate.  Like I-Corps, Lab-Corps represents a low-cost way to facilitate the transition of laboratory discoveries into successful companies and high quality jobs that boost economic growth and American competitiveness.”

Fourteen different teams of researchers from seven national labs have begun the seven-week Lab-Corps entrepreneurial boot-camp at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.  These researchers are focused on commercializing promising sustainable transportation, renewable power, and energy efficiency technologies.