U.S. Department of Energy Industrial Technology Innovation Advisory Committee Report Offers Recommendations for Modern, Competitive Industry
Industry – manufacturing everything we use, from steel to chemicals – is a pillar of the U.S. economy. Domestic industrial resilience is essential to the security of our supply chains for critical materials, parts, and products. Onshoring industrial activity and keeping manufacturing costs low are key to protecting our economic growth and national security.
Strengthening the United States industrial sector through technological innovation is a nonpartisan solution to both challenges.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Industrial Technology Innovation Advisory Committee (ITIAC) recently released its inaugural report with recommendations for the DOE to accelerate America’s transition to advanced manufacturing, creating high-quality jobs while cutting air pollution and enhancing our industrial competitiveness and technological leadership.
But ITIAC’s future is in doubt. The new administration has taken the committee’s web page offline and restricted the DOE staff’s ability to work with the committee. ITIAC is an unpaid, nonpartisan body that helps the DOE direct its resources to the highest-value opportunities to build a flourishing American industrial sector.
As Vice Chair of the committee, I learned multiple solutions are broadly supported by industrial firms, labor groups, NGOs, and state governments, all of which are represented on the committee. I also had the opportunity to delve into the panoply of existing DOE programs that support U.S. industrial competitiveness. Many of our recommendations involve extending or expanding these programs, reflecting the DOE’s extraordinary work in this space. And our recent report is just the first step; we plan to create an extended report that covers additional topics crucial to our industrial future, including critical minerals supply, advanced nuclear, and carbon capture.
America is on the doorstep of an industrial renaissance, and ITIAC’s initial recommendations focus on actions the DOE should take across five broad categories to achieve a secure, prosperous future. But just as important, policymakers in the 119th Congress and the new administration should recognize the DOE’s role in advancing U.S. industry and the need to support this nonpartisan work.
Five Ways the DOE Can Help Build Our Industrial Future
In “Overarching DOE Strategy and Budget,” we identify offices within the DOE whose work is most critical to U.S. industry and should receive increases in future budget requests. We develop guidelines for the DOE to consider in technology and program prioritization, accounting for energy use, national security, employment, and industrial competitiveness impacts. We also identify ways the DOE can improve data sharing and streamline how companies respond to funding opportunities and implement projects.
In “Cross-Cutting Technologies and Opportunities,” the committee highlights how the DOE can accelerate development and commercialization of useful technologies across the industrial sector, including those involving energy efficiency, circular economy and material efficiency, direct electrification, and hydrogen.
In “Industrial Subsectors,” the committee provides guidance on ways the DOE can effectively support the chemicals, cement and concrete, iron and steel, pulp and paper, and food and beverage industries. For instance, the DOE can partner with the Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment Institute, the Electrified Processes for Industry without Carbon Institute, and the Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute to help companies develop and commercialize cost-effective advanced manufacturing technologies.
The “Overcoming Barriers” section shows how the DOE can remove hurdles to adoption of innovative manufacturing technologies. For instance, advanced manufacturing requires electricity, and the DOE has a role to play in strengthening and improving the electric grid, such as ensuring adequacy of grid infrastructure and upgrades, facilitating expansion of high-voltage transmission, and developing technologies that help the grid and industrial facilities co-optimize load and generation. Another barrier faced by companies is to overcome the “valley of death” between research and full-scale commercialization of new technologies. The DOE can help companies bridge this gap via ARPA-E and its SCALEUP program, by developing resources on how companies can achieve successful adoption of new technologies, and by undertaking reforms that would improve the ability of the Loan Programs Office and other DOE funding mechanisms to meet the needs of industry.
Finally, “Workforce and Social Considerations” concerns the need to expand and train the manufacturing workforce while supporting local communities. The DOE has an important role to play in these functions through technical training programs operated by the Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, particularly the Industrial Training and Assessment Centers, which prepare workers for in-demand manufacturing jobs and provide technical assistance for small- to mid-size manufacturers. The DOE also should continue to engage with local workers and other community members to address their concerns, including those related to jobs and public health.
American Industry Can Lead the World – And the DOE Can Make It Happen
The DOE’s support for clean, competitive U.S. industry is under-appreciated. Its offices, institutes, and national labs strengthen American manufacturing in countless ways, covering all stages of technological readiness and using modes ranging from technical guidance to worker training to direct funding.
In short, they are a national treasure that few Americans realize exists.
America is on the doorstep of an industrial transformation the likes of which we haven’t seen in generations. Building a stronger country starts with advanced industry, and building that industrial future starts with the DOE.
That’s not a Democrat or Republican issue – it’s an economic and national security imperative we can all agree on.