The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) held their annual Energy Innovation Summit from Feb. 25-27. The summit provides an opportunity for ARPA-E awardees, finalists, and other select energy companies to demonstrate their cutting-edge energy research and technologies. It also features speeches by technologists, financing experts, and politicians on the state of the energy sector. The summit highlights the important research that is made possible through government funding, as well as how innovative companies can acquire private financing to transform their ideas into marketable products.

There was too much good content to summarize here, though you can view recordings of all the summit sessions here (unfortunately, they charge $95 for access). Here are some of the highlights:

• Hans Rosling, founder of demographic data visualization site gapminder.org, gave an entertaining and informative opening keynote. He pointed out that the growth in energy demand over the coming century is not going to be driven by developed nations- whose populations are stable and economic energy intensities are declining. Nor will it be driven by population growth, which will occur primarily in poor countries where individuals have extremely low per-capita energy demand. The largest driver of growth in energy demand will be development: the elevating of billions of individuals out of poverty in populous countries like China, India, and then in Africa.
• Cheryl Martin, the head of ARPA-E, explained that while ARPA-E is generally thought of as a funding agency, they actually contribute to the field in four distinct ways. First, they “convene great minds” from across disciplines to solve problems, serving as an intermediary that can connect different teams from around the country. Second, they foster partnerships by awarding grants to teams of organizations to work on a problem together. Third, they help form commercial companies by providing guidance to early-stage innovators on how to scale up their technologies and reach the marketplace. Finally, they spur private investment by funding technologies to help them reach the point where they can demonstrate their potential and attract commercial investors.
• Gen. Jim Jones discussed the national security implications of dependence on foreign sources of energy. He pushed for policy reforms, including the creation of a top post for Federal energy policy, the completion of a government-wide Quadrennial Energy Review, and revolutionizing STEM education.
• Sen. Chris Coons discussed his plans for the MLP Parity Act, a bill that would enable renewable energy companies to use the tax-advantaged Master Limited Partnership business structure now available to fossil fuel companies.
• T. Boone Pickens argued that converting heavy-duty vehicles to natural gas would enable us to greatly cut our oil imports.
• Mayor Michael Bloomberg discussed the need to urgently shut down coal plants, which kill and sicken many Americans every year. He discussed the many ways he is making New York City’s operations and power mix more sustainable.
• Sen. Lamar Alexander argued that budget cuts, including the current Sequester, do not threaten our country’s energy R&D funding. Rather, automatic spending on entitlements and the national debt represent the true threat to energy R&D funding. Alexander recommended doubling funding for energy research, paid for by taking money away from subsidies the government currently offers in the marketplace.
• Arati Prabhakar is the head of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), on which ARPA-E was modeled. She emphasized that ARPA-E (and DARPA) invest in highly speculative technologies which only reach maturity and change the world on very long timescales (often decades). She pointed out that technologies we rely on today, such as the internet and GPS satellites, exist because DARPA laid the groundwork for them many years prior. Therefore, it is critical for lawmakers to have patience and give ARPA-E the time it needs to make a difference.
• Secretary Steve Chu gave a joke-filled speech pointing out the difficulty of predicting the future and the fact that we’re not going to run out of fossil fuels. He emphasized that we have a moral responsibility to the most innocent victims of climate change to take action to solve this problem.

These are just a few of the many interesting speakers at the conference. Keep an eye on ARPA-E in the future; some of the critical energy technologies of the 21st century may be traced back to what ARPA-E is doing today.