House Science Committee Holds Hearing on the Future of ARPA-E

The House Science, Space and Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy recently held a hearing on “The Future of ARPA-A.” The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is an agency under the Department of Energy (DOE) that was created in 2009, and is tasked with promoting and funding the research and development of advanced energy technologies. Witnesses that provided testimony at the hearing were:

• Dr. Arun Majumdar, Jay Precourt Provostial Chair Professor, Stanford
• Dr. Ellen Williams, Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland
• Dr. John Wall, Retired CTO of Cummins, Member of the Committee on Evaluation for the 2017 National Academies Review of ARPA-E
• Dr. Saul Griffith, Founder and CEO, Otherlab
• Mr. Mark Mills, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute

Subcommittee Chairman Conor Lamb (D-PA) provided strong praise and support for the agency, referencing several reports and publications that have lauded the work of ARPA-E. Among the reports he referenced was the National Academies report “Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future”, which states that “Throughout history, the United States has consistently demonstrated that tis greatest resource is its people and their talent for innovation and leadership. There has never been a greater need or opportunity for American leadership than that posed by the challenge of achieving dramatic innovations in energy technology.” Chairman Lamb added his own assessment, “ARPA-E is a critical component of spurring that type of innovation.”

Science Committee Chairwoman Johnson also had strong words of praise for the agency, remarking, “…over the last few years this program has been the subject of several overwhelmingly positive assessments by widely respected, bipartisan and nonpartisan institutions like the National Academies, the American Energy Innovation Council, and most recently by Breakthrough Energy. And in Secretary Perry’s own address to the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit last March, he said, and I quote, “ARPA-E is one of the reasons DOE has had and is having such a profound impact on American lives.” I couldn’t have said this better myself.”

To view an archived webcast of the hearing, click here: https://science.house.gov/legislation/hearings/future-arpa-e