ECI awards funds to alternative-energy projects

As all inventors would surely attest, having a great idea is only half the battle - perhaps the easiest half.

The other is actually getting that idea to the point where it means something to somebody. Where it can be applied, for instance, to save a life or help run a business.

That realization was behind the creation a year ago of a partnership that on Monday announced its first round of something else critical to inventions getting a shot at commercial success: funding.

The Energy Commercialization Institute (ECI), a cooperative effort by Philadelphia area universities and the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, awarded a total of $510,000 to help advance eight alternative-energy projects. Individual grants ranged from $5,000 to $150,000.

Among the selected work: transformation of low-quality coals into liquid fuels; creation of inexpensive components for solar cells; production of hydrogen fuel from fossil fuels without greenhouse-gas emissions; and development of energy-management systems to store alternative energy such as solar and wind.

In each case, the projects are a collaborative effort encouraged by ECI - either among universities or between university researchers and private companies.

With these joint ventures, intellectual property and expertise is pooled to promote energy commercialization more efficiently and effectively than if inventors or researchers were going it alone, said RoseAnn B. Rosenthal, president and CEO of Ben Franklin Technology Partners.

"A lot of times, there will be a discovery within a university that one seeks to commercialize, but it's not attractive on its own to attract the interests of the private sector," Rosenthal said.

ECI's role is to bridge that gap.

With the partnerships come carefully crafted agreements that govern disclosure of intellectual property and ensure participants revenue based on the pro-rata share of the value of their technology.

The money comes from a $1.2 million two-year grant awarded by the state's Ben Franklin Development Authority, along with federal matching funds.

How many more grants will be awarded to developing projects has not been determined.

For consideration, Rosenthal said, proponents of a project should be ready to know what the likely commercialization is, the target market, and the time frame in getting it to market.

"If there isn't good science," she added, "don't even bother to apply."

ECI is modeled after the Nanotechnology Institute, which Ben Franklin Technology Partners, the University of Pennsylvania, and Drexel University created in 2000 to be a catalyst for nanotechnology development, commercialization, and company formation.

To date, the institute's website says, it has helped produce more than 357 intellectual-property assets, created or assisted more than 22 companies, and attracted more than $200 million in public and private investment to the region.

What will result from ECI, housed at Drexel University, is still largely an unknown, given the evolving nature of alternative-energy research, Rosenthal said.

"We hope to see, as we did with the [Nanotechnology Institute], the opportunity to take one from Column A, one from Column B, one from Column C, and you have a dinner in front of you that someone wants to eat."