As with DARPA, the Director of ARPA-E will have special authority to hire program managers and other technical, managerial, and financial staff for limited terms, and at a salary commensurate with what such staff would expect to make in the private sector. Program managers will make selections for all projects under ARPA-E based on merit, taking into account factors such as novelty, scientific and technical merit, applicant’s capabilities, the applicant’s consideration of commercial applications of the research and inclusion of commercial partner, and other criteria as the Director determines. The Director shall designate Program Managers who will have flexibility in establishing R&D goals for the program, publicizing goals, convening workshops of potential research participants, issuing solicitations, selecting projects and building research teams, monitoring their progress, and prescribing restructuring or elimination of projects as needed. The organizational structure of ARPA-E will be flat and nimble to avoid bureaucratic impediments that stifle innovation today. A special emphasis should be placed on activities that serve to bridge between these stages and, ultimately, across the “valley of death” to commercial applications of the technologies. Funds may be used for activities in any stage of the innovation spectrum from early-stage basic research to late-stage demonstration.
These consortia can include federal laboratories, in addition to the aforementioned parties, and can be led by federal laboratories. The Director will administer competitive grants, cooperative agreements, or contracts to universities, private companies, research foundations, industry collaborations, and consortia. No other program within DOE will report to ARPA-E.
To achieve this ARPA-E will support collaborative, targeted, high-risk, high pay-off research to accelerate the innovation cycle for transformational energy technologies.ĪRPA-E shall be headed by a Director, appointed by the Secretary. leadership in developing energy technologies. economy, reduce the impact of the energy sector on the environment, and ensure the U.S. dependence on foreign energy sources, improve energy efficiency of the U.S. The stated goal of ARPA-E is to enhance the Nation’s economic and energy security through research and development of technologies that reduce U.S.
Similar to the Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), this new organizational structure will support revolutionary and transformational energy research where risk and pay offs are high. This section establishes the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) within the Department of Energy. can meet long-term energy challenges through sustained investment in energy research programs at DOE augmented by an innovative and aggressive new energy technology development effort based on the same operating principles that make DARPA successful.Īdvanced Research Projects Agency – Energy