UA event focuses on energy concepts
Posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE — Efforts to promote technology-based businesses, especially those involved in renewable energy and energy efficiency, would help the state compete in the future, Congressman John Boozman said Monday.
Boozman, R-Ark., hosted the Conference on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in cooperation with the College of Engineering’s Division of Agriculture at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Taking new energy concepts from research and development to a profitable startup business is the most difficult and expensive period in new technology introduction, said Robert Noun, executive director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for the U. S. Department of Energy, and Chris Benson, director of the Arkansas Energy Office for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.
That perilous period between the publicly funded research — often done at universities — and when the technology catches on enough to be in high demand is when most startup industries fail because of inadequate funding, both speakers said. It is so dangerous that most economists call the time the “Valley of Death.” But pushing new technology from public assistance to private support can be by offering a future-focused incentive award, said speaker Tom Vander Ark, president of the X-Prize Foundation of Santa Monica, Calif.
Big-ticket awards of $ 10 million or more for specific results in technological fields can stimulate a foundering research topic, Vander Ark said.
He cited his organization’s Ansari X-Prize of $ 10 million awarded to Mojave Aerospace Ventures when SpaceShipOne became the first private craft capable of carrying three people to 100 kilometers above the earth’s surface twice in two weeks. The prize was awarded in October 2004.
The Ansari X PRIZE was modeled after the Orteig Prize, won by Charles Lindbergh in 1927 for being the first to fly nonstop from New York to Paris, and mirrors the hundreds of aviation incentive prizes offered early in the 20 th century that helped create today’s $ 300 billion commercial aviation industry, according to the foundation’s Web site.
Ten times the amount of the prize purse was spent by the competitors trying to win the prize, which included 26 teams from seven countries, Vander Ark said.
Future prizes for biodiesel production and lunar landing vehicles are among the foundation’s current efforts, he said.
Steve Rust, director of the Fayetteville Economic Development Council, said the area would benefit from participating in such prizes, like sponsoring a stage race for alternative energy cars or fielding a team for biodiesel production.
“This emphasizes the enormous amount of teamwork between public and private sectors required to solve problems in emerging technologies,” Rust said.
Boozman hopes the conference can become an annual chance for industry professionals and academics to network.
Stephen Pollard, an engineer with Environmental Dynamics in Fayetteville, said, “We need more examples of it happening here in Arkansas.” The conference drew more than 200 attendees that included Fayetteville Mayor Dan Coody, Benton County Judge Gary Black and UA Chancellor John White, along with area business owners and others.
“We made a list of people we knew would be interested in attending, then we asked the people on the list to submit their own list of who would be interested in attending and who they would like to hear from,” Boozman said.
To contact this reporter: sroberts@arkansasonline. com
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