Startup America Policy Challenge: Clean Energy

I’ve  met with researchers, entrepreneurs and students across the country and I can say without hesitation that the United States is the world’s most innovative country. At those same meetings, I’ve also learned firsthand about obstacles that clean energy entrepreneurs face.

To compete in the global economy, we need to unleash the creativity and ingenuity of our citizens in high-growth markets like clean energy. We also need to remove unnecessary barriers to startups – to increase the chances for a clean energy entrepreneur to be successful in starting and scaling a high-growth business.

Trillions of dollars will be invested in clean energy over the coming decades. Countries around the world recognize this enormous economic opportunity and are racing to get ahead. Our country faces a simple choice: we can develop and produce clean energy technologies today or we can import them tomorrow.

President Obama believes that the United States can, must and should lead the world in clean energy and he wants to make sure that our businesses are in the best position to be successful. Earlier this year, he launched the Startup America initiative to promote entrepreneurship in key areas like energy and to make it easier for America’s innovators to turn a great idea into a great business.

Now the Startup America Policy Challenge is looking to tap into our greatest resource – the American people – for ideas on how we can accelerate innovation in energy and position the United States to lead in this critical sector. America’s entrepreneurs are on the front lines of the global clean energy race, and the Department of Energy andthe Administration want to hear from you about the barriers that are standing in your way and what we can do to help remove them.

Through Quora, an idea-sharing platform, you can share your thoughts and ideas directly with senior Administration officials. Specifically, we are interested in your answers to these questions:

* What do you see as the primary barriers to moving clean energy technologies and innovations into the market place?

* What policy tools do you recommend to dismantle these barriers in order to grow the U.S. clean energy sector?

The stakes are too high for the United States to miss out on the clean energy opportunity. We look forward to hearing from you about how we can move ahead in clean energy and lead in the 21st century.

Article by Steven Chu, U.S. Secretary of Energy