Elevator Pitch Session

Developing a succinct pitch seems simple but actually takes a lot of brainpower and is best done with outside feedback. In this video, Berkeley Lab and Cyclotron Road researchers practice pitches for promising technologies with coaching from experienced entrepreneur Christina Ellwood. The intent of the IMPEL channel is to foster a culture of market awareness within DOE labs to help direct future research, and develop innovative lab ideas into teams, assets, and source funding. This can help to drive high impact, industry-relevant technologies from early stage R&D to private sector uptake. This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.

IMPEL Webinar 1: Building Technologies to Market Mechanisms

Friday, October 5, 2018

Elsie Quaite Randall, Chief Technology Transfer Officer, Berkeley Lab, describes models of lab-industry partnerships, that can help scale R&D into commercialization. This is intended to inform building technologies and software tools researchers, and potential industry collaborators about the partnering and IP mechanisms that can support and encourage partnerships.

Corinne A. Allen from the DOE Office of Tech Transfer provides a short presentation on Build4Scale. It trains energy hardware innovators to avoid the common pitfalls of product design by teaching them manufacturing design fundamentals in the early stages of prototype development, and provides them with the information they need to work with manufacturers on first production runs.

IMPEL Webinar 2: Delivering on the Promise of Healthy, Energy Efficient Buildings

David Boyer, CEO, PROSOCO

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Since the early 2000s, the drive for improved energy efficiency, sustainability, survivability and occupant health has caused forward-thinkers to question “How we can deliver on the promise of healthy, affordable, energy efficient buildings without changing the way we build?” It was then that the industry began experimenting with designs for continuously insulated, modular, prefabricated building panels. This deep dive into the many challenges that prefabricators must overcome if they are to succeed in transforming the way we build. David shares many lessons learned and identifies some remaining obstacles. This webinar is especially relevant for the two IMPEL teams focused on building materials.

IMPEL Webinar 3: Ideation to Reality: The Journey from Technology Development to a Building a Thriving Business

Amit Narayan, Founder and CEO of AutoGrid, Inc

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Join Dr. Amit Narayan as he discusses the challenges and rewards of taking an idea from an incubator to market. As an expert entrepreneur Dr. Narayan has founded 2 companies, published over 25 papers in the area of design automation. Narayan also holds seven US patents and is an active advisor to several startup companies in the bay area. Dr. Narayan will discuss his own impressive personal journey from the research lab to launching market-ready products.

During his talk, Dr. Narayan will focus on the following areas:

• Identifying, developing and leveraging technology to fill gaps in the market

• Understanding how policy and regulation can impact technology development

• Finding the right investors to transform ideas to a business model

• How to convert funding into a flourishing business

IMPEL Webinar 4: Industrialized Construction R&D

Nolan Browne, Managing Partner, ADL Ventures

Colby Swanson, Co-Founder, Momentum Innovation Group

Thursday, December 6, 2018

The promise of connected buildings and the pervasive sensor technologies enabling their design and deployment will require a series of innovations in building materials, fabrication techniques and data science. From digital design to off-site fabrication, construction, and commissioning, traditional stakeholders in the construction industry are increasingly asked to accommodate a set of emerging needs, fundamentally shifting the demands on them and their capabilities in order to be successful. Innovation needs range from improved building materials, real-time data analytics, and building automation to digital design and the integration of new processes, into what will inevitably become a transformation in the way buildings are constructed. In all of this, the role of the building scientist is increasingly shifting to fulfill two critical needs; helping owners understand what is possible, and providing architects and engineers with the technical understanding that enables incorporation of new technologies in their designs.

IMPEL mentors:

1. Enhanced the Lab Innovation Team's (LIT) learning by facilitating time and contact with colleagues, subject matter experts, and others in the mentor's company and professional network.

2. Spent a minimum of one to two hours per month with the LIT, providing professional guidance and supporting the implementation of their mentorship project. During this hourly (virtual or physical) meeting, the mentor coached the assigned LIT on the practicalities of their ideas and on topics such as value communication, manufacturing, customer discovery, total addressable market, product-to-market fit, etc. This mentor-connect series will run from September 2018 - March 2019.

3. Presented a one-hour expert webinar to DOE and national labs as an introduction to their work, technology vertical, and commercialization in the building energy efficiency sector.

Successful mentors were approachable, accessible, and willing to dedicate time to supporting their Lab Innovation Team.

Our current mentors are:

Nolan Browne

Managing Director, ADL Ventures

Entrepreneurial executive, technical business developer, investor, fundraiser and board member specializing in commercialization of emerging technologies to reinvent established industries. 15 years of leadership experience in both multi-national corporations and startup companies. 11 years of P&L responsibility, including 7 years as the head of the Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems, an applied R&D lab working with industry to commercialize clean energy technology. Recognized commercialization expert who excels at developing first-of-kind programs and products and leading hybrid teams of high performing technical, business and political professionals. For the past four years Nolan has been focused on the intersection of energy, machine learning and blockchain and has co-founded companies in these areas. Prior to that he successfully founded and operated CleanTech accelerators including Fraunhofer TechBridge and holds board seats in a number of energy related concerns. Browne is active in the entrepreneurial and venture capital communities. He holds graduate degrees from the Johns Hopkins and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Benson Chan

Senior Partner, Strategy of Things

Benson Chan is the co-founder and Senior Partner at Strategy of Things, a Silicon Valley based innovation consultancy, that brings disruptive digital technologies and strategies to enable smart cities, buildings and factories. Recent accomplishments include the development and launch SMC Labs (www.smclabs.io), San Mateo County’s innovation lab focused on solving regional problems affecting its 750,000 residents and 22 cities, as well as a connected streetlight strategy for a large innovative electric utility company. Benson has over 25 years of scaling innovative businesses and bringing innovations to market for Fortune 500 and start-up companies. With deep cross-functional experience in strategy, business development, marketing, product management, engineering and operations management, Benson uses a systems approach to consistently deliver results that matter. Most recently, Benson was the Vice President of Business Development and Strategy at Pakedge, where he developed the strategy that resulted in the acquisition of the company by a top tier smart home automation company. Benson has held project, management and executive positions in innovation-driven organizations, including NASA, Hughes Aircraft Company, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cisco and Pakedge. Benson is a recognized domain expert and thought leader in networking, cloud, enterprise IT, Internet of Things (IoT), innovation management, business model innovation, and go-to-market. He is published and quoted on various industry publications including Network World, Enterprise Management 360, Security Round Table, Industrial IoTWorld, IoT For All, Channel Pro Network, and AV Interactive. He is an active contributor on the development of an IoT Network Connectivity Blueprint for Smart Cities as part of the NIST Global Cities Team Challenge Wireless SuperCluster. Benson holds a BS in Aeronautical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, a MS in Engineering from Purdue University and a MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles.

John Dierkes

Business Development Manager, Schneider Electric

A thought leader for doing more with less, as it relates to Energy, Energy Efficiency, Electrical Safety, Modernization, Process, Process Automation, Building Automation, Building Security, OT Cyber Security and Data Centers. My 42 year journey and goal at Schneider Electric has been to make my customers, co-worker's, partner's and the company successful. Currently and for the past 12 years my role included developing and providing solutions that align with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) goals and missions.

Renil Paramel

Senior Partner, Strategy of Things

Renil Paramel is the co-founder and Senior Partner at Strategy of Things, a Silicon Valley based innovation consultancy, that brings disruptive digital technologies and strategies to enable smart cities, buildings and factories. With over 20 years of management consulting experience helping companies solve complex and strategic problems, Renilis a trusted strategic advisor to C-level executives across Fortune 500 and public agencies in technology, finance, healthcare, retail and municipal governments. He has helped transform both large multinational and smaller regional organizations, including HP, Agilent Technologies, Sun Microsystems, Visa, American Express, Wells Fargo, Allianz, Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies, TD Bank, Chevron, Macy's, PG&E, Kaiser Permanente, Counties of San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, and Solano counties. Renil has deep experience in Internet of Things (IoT), innovation and technology strategy, portfolio management, strategic planning, M&A integration, transformation and risk assessment. Renil was most recently Vice President at Gartner Consulting's public sector management consulting practice. Prior to that, he spent a number of years at Accenture and Deloitte. Renil's past experience also includes setting up a software development business unit with P&L responsibilities, and co-founding a multimedia startup. Renil holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from the University of Mumbai and an MBA from University of Pittsburgh with focus on Marketing and Systems.

Walt Vernon

EO, Mazzetti

Walt is the CEO of Mazzetti, a leading global provider of MEP engineering design and technology/IT consulting in Healthcare. Mazzetti creates future-focused, technologically advanced buildings, rooted in local culture, climate and economy. Walt has been working with—partnering, consulting, advising—healthcare clients for more than 30 years with a keen focus on future-planning. He's true to his personal mission to relentlessly innovate to build better things and a better world. He just happens to be an Electrical Engineer, by trade, in addition, a licensed professional to practice law in California. He holds degrees in philosophy, mathematics and business. Walt is also currently taking steps to earn a PhD in Public Health.

Discover more about Walt's thought leadership on LinkedIn.

The Lab Innovation Teams (LITs) were coached to develop a keen understanding of the market factors, and led through development and delivery of value communication pitches to non-technical audiences. The LIT had an opportunity to develop their ideas from first pitch at the program kick-off IMPEL Training event, to practice pitches, and to a final pitch at the IMPEL Showcase Event. More information about these events is provided further below.

LITs and IMPEL Mentors were invited to attend two IMPEL events as described below:

1. The IMPEL Training Event, a kick-off workshop at the Better Buildings/Energy Exchange conference in August 2018, in Cleveland Ohio

2. The IMPEL Virtual Pitch Coaching Event, a virtual workshop, where experts provided one-on-one pitch coaching for elevator pitches and pitch decks to the teams, and provided feedback as a panel to all the teams. Held 11th Dec 2018, at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

3. The IMPEL Showcase Event, where the LITs presented their final pitches at the Building Technologies Office's Peer Review Conference in Washington DC in Spring 2019.

Important Dates

• Application forms issued: June 29th, 2018

• Applications due: July 15th, 2018

• LIT selection decision announced by Tiger Team: July 31st, 2018

• IMPEL Training Event at the Energy Exchange, Columbus OH: August 20th, 2018

• Mentoring and Expert Webinars (ongoing, monthly): Sep 2018 - Mar 2019

• Virtual Pitch Coaching Event: Dec 11th, 2018 (also in-person at Berkeley Lab)

• IMPEL Showcase Event: April 16th, 2019, at the BTO Peer Review