Managing Energy Research and Development for Addressing Climate Change

Sponsored by University of Chicago’s Harris School
of Public Policy and the National Commission on Energy Policy

May 6-7, 2008
Exelon Corporation
10 South Dearborn Street
Chicago, Illinois

Key Issues to be Addressed

The two-day colloquium will address a number of issues related to R&D and collaboration among labs and universities. Key issues to examine include the following:

• What are the major climate-related R&D programs currently underway at both the national labs and major universities, and what is the best way to build upon these programs?
• Is a new R&D-funding management structure needed? If so, what form should it take, e.g., expanding ARPA-E; creating a new, separate governing board or quasi-government corporation; establishing an oversight body, similar to the Transportation Research Board; establishing a new administrative organization based on the National Institutes of Health model?
• What are likely to be the challenges associated with setting up a new management structure, and what lessons can be learned from previous efforts?
• What models of collaboration between academia and national labs have succeeded in the last 5 years? Are existing management structures well-suited to promoting collaboration across various R&D institutions?
• Do existing management structures adequately address the key basic vs. applied research issues? How can management structures ensure a smooth pathway from basic research to applied research to deployment?
• What models for R&D prioritization are best suited to climate change and energy technologies (e.g., National Science Foundation model vs. program manager model)?
• How can funding be structured to ensure the highest quality and level of success for energy R&D?
• How best to recognize and sustain transformational research that would stream line the development, demonstration, and deployment of breakthrough technologies?