April 16, 2014
(Berkeley, CA) The Council on Competitiveness and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) with host Dr. Nicholas Dirks, Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, and member of the Council, today convened the fifth in a series of progressive dialogues as part of the American Energy and Manufacturing Competitiveness (AEMC) Partnership.
The AEMC Partnership is a three-year effort to bolster American competitiveness through advanced clean energy manufacturing and increased energy productivity, and to address the dynamic changes affecting the national and global energy landscape. Today's dialogue was held at the University of California, Berkeley — a top tier public research university with a long legacy of innovations and leaders that have created groundbreaking products, revolutionary companies and entirely new industries.
"Although Berkeley is a global leader in clean energy research, turning our discoveries into technologies that will benefit the public and the American economy requires effective partnerships with the private sector and the federal government," said Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, UC Berkeley. "Enhanced support for innovation in basic and applied research is one of my top priorities as Berkeley's chancellor, and I applaud the Department of Energy's efforts to close the innovation gap in this country and ensure we remain the most competitive nation in the world."
Chancellor Dirks is a key member of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) Steering Committee, part of a continuing effort established by President Obama to maintain U.S. leadership in the emerging technologies that will create high-quality manufacturing jobs and enhance America's global competitiveness.
Throughout the AEMC Partnership, the Council and EERE have collaborated with hundreds of leaders from industry, academia, national laboratories, non-profit organizations and the government. Through regional dialogues, research efforts and the inaugural AEMC Summit — which attracted more than 500 leaders and participants in December, 2013 — these leaders have defined key barriers to the production of clean energy products and to the manufacturing sector's efforts as a whole to increase energy productivity.
The Council and EERE presented to Dialogue 5 participants for review a public-private partnership (PPP) concept designed to leverage relatively untapped technical and intellectual national resources at the Department of Energy's (DOE) national laboratories and the nation's world-class university system, such as high performance computing.
"The Energy Department's national laboratories are at the forefront of innovation, providing key resources to local companies today as well as leading the visionary scientific and technical research of tomorrow," said Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy David Danielson. "The Department is committed to maximizing the access to and impact of these national labs for developing the game-changing clean energy technologies America needs to stay competitive globally."
"America has the opportunity — if we act now — to put the distinctive capabilities of our national labs and research universities at the center of our long-term, strategic development," said Deborah Wince-Smith, President & CEO, Council on Competitiveness. "Facilitating greater awareness and use of advanced computing resources housed at these global centers of excellence will promote the collaborative relationships to drive American manufacturing growth, job creation and enhanced competitiveness."
AEMC Partnership Dialogue 5 is another step in the ongoing conversation around increased U.S. energy, manufacturing, and economic competitiveness, and leads into the upcoming 2014 AEMC Summit that will take place in Washington, D.C. on September 17th.
The AEMC Partnership is part of the Energy Department's Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative (CEMI), which will host a regional summit in San Francisco tomorrow (April 17). The CEMI Summit will showcase clean energy manufacturing in the region and provide a platform for the DOE to receive stakeholder feedback on its overall clean energy manufacturing strategy.
The CEMI Summit is being led by EERE Assistant Secretary David Danielson, U.S. Department of Energy and includes remarks by Council President & CEO Deborah Wince-Smith. Key speakers include U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (CA-12); former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, Distinguished Practitioner of Law and Public Policy, UC Berkeley; Matt Rogers, Director, McKinsey & Company, William Ruh, Vice President, Global Software Center, GE Global Research, and Chad Evans, Executive Vice President, Council on Competitiveness.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Lisa Hanna
Vice President, Communications
Council on Competitiveness
lhanna@compete.org
202-383-9507
900 17th Street NW
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Washington, DC 20006
T: 202-682-4292
F: 202-682-5150
