Scott Elrod - PARC blog

The Future of Cleantech Innovation

19 January 2012 | Scott Elrod

[contributed article to State of Green Business Report 2012] Technology adoption doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Someone at PARC once famously quoted, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it." When that concept is applied to cleantech – where the future is focused on deploying solutions at a massive scale, and where there is no Moore's Law for PV – I'd say the best way to predict the future is to "innovate" it.

How to build a cleantech portfolio (or: just about anything)

6 April 2011 | Scott Elrod

[contributed post to SmartPlanet] When PARC, a Xerox company, became an independent subsidiary in 2002, we were free to consider entirely new directions and industries. Cleantech was one of our first efforts to take the deep competencies and expertise we cultivated solely for Xerox, and apply them to problems and needs for other clients. But how did we align our idealistic motivations – concern for the environment, desire for impact – with commercial realities? Here are some of the strategies that helped us resolve conflicting goals and move from possibility, to reality... including knowing WHAT to start, and knowing WHEN to stop.

Scaling, collaboration are keys to maintaining U.S. cleantech edge

7 April 2010 | Scott Elrod

[contributed article to EE Times] PARC was recently invited to present transformative ideas at an energy technology conference sponsored by ARPA-Energy, a new Energy Department agency charged with funding high-risk, high-payoff technology. The agency recently set a benchmark in government efficiency by reviewing 3,700 project proposals from across the U.S. in record time, ultimately funding 37. I’ve shared some of the innovative ideas I saw at the technology showcase in another post, but the key questions that persist are: Can the U.S. sustain an edge in clean technology? What clean tech technologies will win, and what’s needed to get us there? How can an industry focused on IT make the transition to a completely different technology and market: energy technology?

Energy Innovation Summit: highlights

9 March 2010 | Scott Elrod

Organized by the the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy ("ARPA-E"), the inaugural Energy Innovation Summit that took place recently in D.C. brought together key players to spur the networks that will, according to the organizers, "bring about the next Industrial Revolution in clean energy technologies, in the way the U.S. has led previous revolutions in life sciences and information technology". Participants included venture capital investors, technology entrepreneurs, large and small corporations with an interest in clean energy technologies, scientific researchers, and policymakers/government officials. For a nerd like me, the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit was a candy shop. If you couldn't be there (or even if you were!), read on for what I consider the most noteworthy morsels from the event...