Energy I-Corps steeps scientists in the world of business, commercialization

Dmytro Bykov, left, and Hector Corzo participate in a value proposition development exercise as part Energy I-Corps, a commercialization program sponsored by DOE's Office of Technology Transitions. Credit: OTT, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Dmytro Bykov, a senior R&D computational scientist, and Hector Corzo, a postdoctoral research associate, each equipped with a doctorate in computational chemistry and working at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, are experts at using artificial intelligence with the world's fastest supercomputers in the study of science.

They can easily talk about methodologies of theoretical chemistry and quantum mechanics using high performance computing and their parallel implementations on heterogeneous supercomputer architectures.

Not among their impressive skillsets, though, is how to draw up a business plan, raise venture capital, direct a sales team, manage marketing or any other business-necessary skill that may determine a technology's success in the marketplace.

Vipin Kumar, left, and Jim Tobin are part of Energy I-Corps' Team IndraGuard, a technology designed to help protect wind turbine blades from damaging lightning strikes. Credit: OTT, U.S. Dept. of Energy

That's where DOE's Office of Technology Transitions comes in. Its Energy I-Corps program pairs teams of researchers, often with no business background or knowledge, with industry mentors through an immersive two-month training program where the scientists define their technology's value propositions, conduct stakeholder discovery interviews and develop viable market pathways. Two ORNL teams participated in Cohort 18, which concluded in March, helping commercialize the fruits of their research.

"It's a crash course on these topics," said Bykov, who completed the program with Corzo. "I am not a businessman; I don't have a background in business. My Ph.D. is in quantum physics."

Bykov and Corzo, scientists working at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, a DOE Office of Science user facility, were one of two ORNL teams in the I-Corps program's Cohort 18. The other team was comprised of ORNL's Jim Tobin and Vipin Kumar in ORNL's Manufacturing Sciences Division with their technology called IndraGuard, designed to help protect wind turbine blades from damaging lightning strikes.

Energy I-Corps helps answer fundamental questions that scientists generally don't deal with: "Where to start, who to talk to, what to read," Bykov said. "I had no idea. This is one stepping stone. It won't get me an MBA, but it's very good practical experience. It's an introduction to those, for people like me, who have no background in business."

Vanessa Z. Chan, director of OTT and DOE's chief commercialization officer, delivers remarks during the final presentation session for Energy I-Corps' Cohort 18. Credit: OTT, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Bykov's and Corzo's technology, named GreenSight, offers AI-based solutions for reducing energy consumption and increasing data security. Their research, funded by DOE Advanced Scientific Computing Research program, provides seamless integration of software services while championing sustainability and ensuring data privacy throughout each phase of processing. Their technology is an energy-optimized AI module, designed to seamlessly integrate with conventional hardware, removing the necessity for additional computing resources.The technology is AI-based, but unlike standard AI tools, it can be used locally, on a user's personal laptop, for example.

"That was part of the value of it," Corzo said. "Training an AI model requires a lot of energy. We're trying to tackle security with something that can run locally, without specialized hardware, and make it energy efficient. We developed this model with the idea of how the human brain works."

For example, when reading a book, the brain does not save all the data, but the reader retains certain important pieces of information, Corzo explained. Standard AI saves all the information in the book, which requires a lot of energy and resources. But GreenSight uses less energy and can do 10 times more tasks using only a fraction of the energy, while providing the same insight. Thus its name.

The other team members in ORNL's Cohort 18 group, Tobin, senior R&D staff and principal investigator for the team, and Kumar, R&D staff member, learned how to commercialize a technology that could help the wind energy industry meet national goals for carbon reduction.

In research funded by DOE's Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office and Wind Energy Technologies Office, Kumar developed IndraGuard, a nano-engineered multi-functional coating to enhance the lifespan of wind turbine blades and reduce their service downtime by improved lightning-strike protection. Lightning strikes and extreme weather account for almost 80% of downtime for wind turbines, causing high repair and logistics costs. In one year, more than 77,000 lightning strikes occurred on wind turbine blades in the U.S., with each turbine getting struck by lightning once or twice a year, on average.

Jim Tobin, left, and Ben Colgrove, owner of Catbird Consulting and industry mentor to Team Indraguard, deliver their final presentation during Energy I-Corps' graduation session. Credit: OTT, U.S. Dept. of Energy

The technology, which was patented earlier this year, works by combining polymers that are electrically conductive so that the electrical charge from lightning would dissipate along the blade surface and transfer to the ground harmlessly.

While Kumar developed the coating technology in the lab, getting it to the marketplace is another story. Energy I-Corps provided the training for that.

Kumar said he was in "Fantasyland" before participating in the program. "I felt I had this great coating, and everyone would want it," he said. But through the program, and with Tobin's industry contacts, they interviewed more than 80 people and learned more specifically and in great detail what they needed to help determine if the coating would work in the real world.

"I had to adjust the coating for what the industry needs. Listening to their pain points, and what we really needed to do to cater to the industry, was the biggest advantage of the program," Kumar said. "These are things I never thought about. The industry wanted more testing, they wanted to know its longevity to ensure ROI (return on investment), and how it could be scaled up. These are things I-Corps helped me understand."

Tobin, who previously spent more than a dozen years at GE Renewable Energy but had little contact with actual turbine users, said the program was a great way to learn what they actually need.

Through those discussions, the team developed a 1,700-word document of lessons learned and a chart detailing stakeholder issues that the team could apply to their commercialization efforts. The scientists listened to potential customers, turbine technicians and lightning experts and, coupled with a roadmap that brought their business plans out to 2028, adjusted their efforts.

"The experience helped clarify what still needs to be done to de-risk the technology and prove performance so that industry will embrace it," Tobin said. "It also helped validate the different potential pathways to commercialization and which paths are likely to produce near-term success versus other paths."

Hector Corzo, left, and Dmytro Bykov are part of Team GreenSight, which offers AI-based solutions for reducing energy consumption and increasing data security. Credit: OTT, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Susan Ochs, engagement programs manager in ORNL's Technology Transfer Office, said the I-Corps program provides important skills.

"The Energy I-Corps program accelerates and expands the understanding of how technology fits in the market, and how money actually moves around tech development and deployment. In terms of effort, it is a stiff climb uphill," she said. "But the researcher's lens quickly shifts to panoramic, and they gain an understanding of the true value prospect and market pull."

Tobin added that I-Corps helps deliver on the mission of ORNL, as well as DOE.

"Understanding what's really important - and not important - to those who might actually use what we're working on is vital to making the critical choices to ensure we're developing something of value and worthy of future taxpayer investments," he said.

Said Kumar: "The biggest lesson I tell everybody is: Before proposing a solution, talk to industry and understand their pain points. What you are solving may not be what the industry needs. This is really important for any good commercializable research."

Two ORNL teams will participate in Cohort 19, which begins Sept. 16. Team Green Capture includes ORNL researchers Syed Islam and Nicholas Gregorich and industry mentor Zamidi Ahmad of Generon. Green Capture is an affordable membrane-based technology that efficiently removes carbon dioxide from fossil fuel-based power plant emissions using an environmentally sustainable absorption process. Team HFLW Concrete includes ORNL researchers Zhenglai Shen and Adam Brooks and ORNL staff mentor Hillary Fishler. High-filler low-water, or HFLW, concrete is an innovative and sustainable building material designed to meet modern construction needs.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE's Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. DOE's Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit energy.gov/science. -Lawrence Bernard