A Record-Breaking Year for Innovation and the Industry Growth Forum

In this episode, hosts Kerrin Jeromin and Taylor Mankle dive into a banner year for innovation at NREL. Together, they explore the entrepreneurial side of energy technology, including: 

• NREL’s record-breaking 294 invention disclosures and 46 patents in Fiscal Year 2024—including the first patent from NREL’s Cybersecurity Research Center, an AI-powered system for grid security. Licensing Executive Eric Payne explains how patents reflect years of prior innovation, and the team highlights one invention that began its journey more than a decade prior. Plus, 
• The 30th anniversary of NREL’s Industry Growth Forum, which broke attendance records with more than 1,000 participants and introduced new features like reverse pitches and spotlight sessions. With $5 billion in investment capital represented and nearly 3,000 meetings between startups and investors, this year’s forum marked a significant step in accelerating the commercialization of advanced energy solutions. 

This episode was hosted by Kerrin Jeromin and Taylor Mankle, written and produced by Allison Montroy and Kaitlyn Stottler, and edited by James Wilcox, Joe DelNero, and Brittany Falch. Graphics are by Brittnee Gayet. Our title music is written and performed by Ted Vaca and episode music by Chuck Kurnik, Jim Riley, and Mark Sanseverino of Drift BC. Transforming Energy: The NREL Podcast is created by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. Email us at podcast@nrel.gov. Follow NREL on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Threads, and Facebook.

Transcript

[intro music, fades]   

Kerrin: Welcome to Transforming Energy: The NREL Podcast, brought to you by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. We’re highlighting the latest in advanced energy research and innovations happening at the lab. I’m Kerrin Jeromin. 

Taylor: And I’m Taylor Mankle. We have an inventive episode for you today.  

Kerrin: Inventive, you say? 

Taylor: Yes, you heard that right, inventive, because today we’re talking about NREL’s patent activity, our record-breaking year of innovation, as well as the 30th anniversary of our Industry Growth Forum.  

[Music]   

Kerrin: You know Taylor, one of my favorite parts of working in the national lab system is that we get to be on the cutting edge of emerging technologies. Every day, our researchers are conducting basic and applied science to accelerate energy innovation and systems integration.  

Taylor: I couldn’t agree more. It’s inspiring to witness the research and development pipeline from start to finish, from yesterday’s ideas into today’s practical use.   

Kerrin: And a huge part of bridging research with everyday use is patenting. Patents give inventors exclusive rights to make, use, or license their inventions to scale and commercialize.  

Taylor: At NREL, when our researchers create technologies that have potential for measurable market impact, they can submit their idea to our Technology Transfer Office. These are called records of invention. After a collaborative review that involves NREL’s Tech Transfer office and our Office of General Counsel, technologies that qualify may move on to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to secure patent rights. 

Kerrin: Let’s hear directly from Eric Payne, the licensing executive lead for NREL’s tech transfer office:

Eric Payne: So, patent issuances are not a leading indicator of innovation; they're actually a lagging indicator, because if you think about the timeline, so you file a record of invention. We typically file a patent application about 6 to 12 months after that, and then the patent application is pending within USPTO for at least 2, 3, 4, 5 years. When you're looking at the patent issuances, you're kind of looking at a snapshot back in time. These were the areas that we were really active in three to five years ago.

Taylor: Three to five years? Wow. I guess from that perspective, the technology from our current smartphone was probably created a decade ago.  

Kerrin: Yeah, I guess it very well could have been! 

Taylor: It’s a funny coincidence that you’re telling me all of this because NREL is currently riding the coattails of a record year of innovation at the lab. In Fiscal Year 2024, researchers at NREL submitted a record-breaking 294 innovations, representing potentially patentable inventions or copyrightable software. Those 294 innovations are now working their way through the tech transfer office before patent applications are filed. 

Kerrin: Wow! That is incredible. And how many patents did NREL receive for the year? 

 Taylor: That would be 46 patents across the lab’s technology areas.  

Kerrin: Wow!  

Taylor: And I have some more interesting factoids here to share — 

Kerrin: Alright, bring it on. I love a good factoid.  

Taylor: Alright Kerrin, any guesses on the “oldest” awarded patent from fiscal year 2024? As in, when was the record of invention submitted to NREL’s tech transfer office? 

Kerrin: Oh, that’s a brain teaser. So, let’s see. So, we know patent issuances take about three to five years. Last year was 2024, minus five ... 2019. Okay, I’ll say the patent was initiated in 2019. 

Taylor: Not quite.  

Kerrin: Oh.  

Taylor: The "oldest" awarded patent originated from a record of invention submitted in 2014. A whole decade ago!  

Kerrin: Wow! 

Taylor: The process likely took so long because the U.S. Patent Office receives hundreds of thousands of patent applications every year – but also because of the complexity of the technology itself. The more complicated the technology, the more time it takes for a patent application to be examined. 

Kerrin: That’s pretty interesting, just how much the timeline can vary.   

Taylor: Yeah, at this rate my cell phone could have been created before NREL was even a national lab!  

Kerrin: You’re not wrong though. Many foundational technologies that we use every day rely on inventions from decades ago. I mean, Taylor— we do have the Romans to thank for creating the road system, so we can drive to everyday things like work and the grocery store for shopping. You know?  

Taylor: Absolutely. And here at NREL, our researchers are pioneering the next generation of energy technologies and integrated systems that are secure, resilient, and reliable. Our patents from the last fiscal year overwhelmingly represent improvements in energy systems and manufacturing processes to make technology easier to scale and cheaper to use. New materials and advanced composites were introduced, and methods that reduce the amount of energy needed to power everyday lives were proposed.  

Kerrin: Alright, I think we have time to review one patent from last fiscal year— so, let’s go for it. 

Taylor: Alright, well if I have to pick just one – let’s celebrate NREL’s very first patent from the Cybersecurity Research Center! It’s an Artificial Intelligence, or AI-powered system designed to protect power grids from cyberattacks. As our grid becomes more digitally connected and threat actors become more sophisticated, new vulnerabilities arise. So, cybersecurity isn’t just an afterthought— it’s absolutely essential.  

Kerrin: The patent comes from NREL researchers Joshua Rivera and Vivek Kumar, along with Adarsh Hasandka and Joshua Van Natta. 

Taylor: The team built a system that can automatically detect, visualize, and respond to threats on the grid. It’s designed with a mix of rule-based logic, modeling, and AI, which lets it react almost instantly when something’s off. 

Kerrin: Yeah, it’s like this layered defense system that knows what “normal” looks like on the grid— and when something weird happens, it jumps into action, alerting those to an anomaly. 

Taylor: Exactly. Both Rivera and Kumar Singh said they were “in the right place at the right time” when they proposed this technology in 2019. That’s when they kicked off the patent process— right before generative AI really took off. Here’s how Joshua Rivera put it: 

Joshua Rivera: What we were trying to do is say OK, terms like ‘virtualization,’ ‘software defined networking’, ‘automation’ and ‘orchestration’—these are things that IT professionals and clouds use for security and resiliency, right? So we were trying to take some of that philosophy and say, well, if we apply this with these detection methodologies specific to these power systems, we could probably start to create what was novelty at the time. We were at the right place at the right time to submit that because we were trying to think about it and make sure that that we captured that moment, because we could kind of see where it was going; we were forecasting like people are really going to care about this.

Kerrin: Now that the team’s patent has been issued, they’re interested in teaming up with utility companies to help bring it to market— whether that means commercializing the patent itself or a related tool. Anyone interested can get in touch with NREL’s Tech Transfer Office to talk about a potential collaboration for this patent or any of the 45 others awarded in fiscal year 2024.  

[Music] 

Taylor: Sticking with the theme of emerging technology, we’re onto our next story about the 2025 NREL Industry Growth Forum. It just wrapped up its 30th anniversary on March 28—and it was a big one that broke records with more than a thousand people attending. 

Kerrin: Yeah, and if you’ve heard of the forum before, you know it’s the place for energy tech startups and researchers to connect with investors and industry leaders. It’s all about moving those big ideas closer to commercialization. 

Taylor: This year, more than 200 active investors attended, together representing $5 billion in capital that they are looking to deploy over the next 12 years. The whole event is organized by NREL’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, or I-E-C, and their goal is pretty simple: get investors and startups talking face to face. 

Kerrin: And you know what? They really make it happen. The forum features solutions from across the energy spectrum— agriculture and food, electricity, fuels and chemicals— you name it. Startups apply to present, and a committee of more than 200 investors selects the top-scoring ones to pitch at the event in downtown Denver, Colorado.  

Taylor: And it’s not just pitches. There were nearly 3,000 one-on-one meetings held between startups and investors this year, giving attendees a chance to network, swap stories, share accomplishments, and even talk through some of their challenges. Plus, some new features for 2025: 

Kerrin: Right! For the first time, we saw reverse pitches—where big industry partners shared what they’re  looking for from startups to grow their own businesses. Executives with companies like Wells Fargo, Shell, Fortescue, National Grid, Halliburton Labs, and Chevron participated, offering insights into what matters most when they’re investing in energy tech.  

Taylor: Another new feature of this year’s forum was the IEC Spotlight Session, which showcased 10 companies involved in NREL’s entrepreneurship programs, such as the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator, or I-N-2, which we spoke about last time on the show, as well as the Shell GameChanger Powered by NREL, West Gate, and Chevron Studio.  

Kerrin: For the 2025 awards, a panel of investor judges picked the winners from 52 startup companies that pitched at the event. Those 52 were chosen earlier this year from a pool of —get this— 247 applicants. 

Taylor: Altogether, six top innovators took home awards. If you want to see the full list of winners, head over to nrelforum.com. 

[Music]  

Kerrin: I’ve got to say Taylor, I love talking about the tech transfer pipeline. Which are words I never really thought I’d say until I got to NREL. It really embodies the best of what scientific research stands for.  

Taylor: Yeah, I do too. Every time a researcher’s idea is scaled and commercialized, it creates more choices for the everyday consumer and helps yield more affordable and accessible energy for all.  

Kerrin: And that’s a mission I think we can all get behind. 

Taylor: And with that, another great episode of Transforming Energy comes to a close.  

Kerrin: Thanks, everyone, for joining us today on Transforming Energy: The NREL Podcast. We’ll be back in two weeks with more news from NREL.  

 [Music] 

Taylor: This episode was adapted from NREL news articles from March and April 2025 written by Hannah Halusker and Jeffrey Wolf. Our theme music is written and performed by Ted Vaca and episode music by Chuck Kurnik, Jim Riley, and Mark Sanseverino, of Drift B-C. The podcast is produced by NREL’s Communications Office at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado.