Technology, innovation on display at EERE Industry Day

In September, ORNL hosted the first EERE Industry Day event, which was sponsored by several offices under the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). Industry Day also served as the platform for unveiling ORNL’s novel 3D-printed energy-sharing project, the Additive Manufacturing Integrated Energy (AMIE) demonstration. 

About 350 people and 44 exhibitors participated in the Industry Day technology showcase that included more than 90 facilitated networking meetings in building and vehicle technologies and advanced manufacturing. 

EERE Assistant Secretary David Danielson opened the 2-day event, along with representatives from Congress, academia, industry, and EERE program offices, and they later took part in several sessions, presentations, and activities. Industry Day focused on ways to advance science and technology through collaborations across ORNL, the University of Tennessee, and local and national industry. 

The kickoff concluded with ORNL’s Roderick Jackson, principal investigator of the AMIE project, introducing the vision behind AMIE. He followed his remarks by demonstrating AMIE for the first time before an audience. 

Buildings Crowdsourcing Winners Announced

During the event’s second day, Danielson announced the winners of the Buildings Crowdsourcing Community Campaign initiated in March 2015: James Rowland, Mark Walter, and Matthew O’Kelly in the Equipment and Appliances category; Jim White in Sensors and Controls; and Rod Stucker in Envelope Technologies. Danielson then launched the next crowdsourcing initiative, called JUMP (Join in discussion, Unveil innovation, Motivate transformation, and Promote technology to market), in collaboration with DOE and several national laboratories and industry partners. ORNL’s Melissa Lapsa, deputy director of the Building Technologies Research and Integration Center, and her team later were awarded additional funding from DOE’s Building Technologies Office to expand the JUMP crowdsourcing initiative (jump.ideascale.com) to include Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. 

Small Business Vouchers Pilot Opens

Danielson also announced the new $20 million Small Business Vouchers (SBV) Pilot, DOE’s Laboratory Economic Impact Initiative designed to assist more than 100 small businesses developing technologies in advanced manufacturing, buildings, vehicles, wind power, water power, bioenergy, fuel cells, geothermal, and solar. In March, winners of the first round of SBV applicant companies were selected, and the second round of funding opportunities was announced.

Garners VIP Crowd

In addition to Danielson, Industry Day guests included Thom Mason, laboratory director; Chuck Fleischmann, US Congressman representing Tennessee’s Third District; Johnny Moore, ORNL Site Office manager, DOE Office of Science; David Millhorn, University of Tennessee executive vice president; Brian Lee, design partner with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM); Anne Clawson, manager of government programs and partnerships, Alcoa; Rick Boyd, president of manufacturing operations, Clayton Homes; Rick Spears, founder and president, Tru-Design; and John Makinson, director of research and development, Hexagon Lincoln. Industry representatives who spoke during the event included Jay Rogers, Local Motors; Phil Enquist, SOM; Ed Steinebach, Eagle Bend Manufacturing; Scott Martin, Hillphoenix; Carey Chen, Cincinnati Incorporated; Dan Henderson, Caterpillar; and Tracy Albers, Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing. 

EERE Industry Day was sponsored by the Building Technologies, Advanced Manufacturing, and Vehicle Technologies Offices