LLNL and Sandia host hydrogen partner event at Livermore Open Campus

True to its mission, Livermore Valley Open Campus (LVOC) recently hosted a public-facing event where scientists and tech-transfer professionals from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Sandia National Laboratories engaged with external companies open to exploring partnership opportunities in hydrogen technologies.

The event featured an industry partner forum which included speakers from PG&E, Verne and Pacific Hydrogen, who shared their experiences collaborating on hydrogen projects with LLNL and Sandia. Topics ranged from the most beneficial laboratory resources and facilities to specific projects and their impact to tips for new partners.

The event audience of about 50 attendees included existing industry partners as well as San Francisco Bay Area companies interested in collaborating with a national lab and gaining insight into LLNL and Sandia’s hydrogen intellectual property, research and facilities. Attendees heard from principal investigators about cutting-edge advances in hydrogen production, storage and utilization, as well as best practices for collaboration between industry and research institutions.

Brandon Wood, associate program lead for Hydrogen and Computational Energy Materials at LLNL, and Kristin Hertz, program manager for Hydrogen at Sandia, presented on the research and capabilities of their respective programs. Tech transfer professionals from both labs — Jared Lynch, business development executive from LLNL’s Innovation and Partnerships Office (IPO) and Matt Meyer, strategy and partner development at Sandia — followed up with insights on how collaborations can take shape. Lennie Klebanoff, a staff scientist at Sandia, moderated the partner forum.

“We [national laboratories] like to work on hard problems,” said Klebanoff during a Q&A session. “When you know how a technology is used out in the field, it influences how you look at the fundamental science of it.”

LLNL’s Lynch shared a similar sentiment during the Q&A, saying “The sum is greater than its parts [when it comes to the impact of public-private partnerships].”

The event also illustrated the role of geographic location in facilitating innovation through proximity, and the impact of public-facing spaces such as LVOC on fostering external collaboration. The joint LLNL-Sandia event also showed the strength in interagency partnerships.

“Being located so close to Silicon Valley means we’re able to offer cutting-edge scientific expertise and facilities to leading technology companies — big and small — to help them de-risk their go-to-market strategies and bolster U.S. innovation through licensing and collaboration,” said LLNL IPO Director Matthew Garrett.

IPO is the focal point for LLNL’s engagement with industry and aims to support U.S. national security and economic competitiveness through industry licensing of Lab-owned IP and fostering collaborative research partnerships.

The event was also co-sponsored by the LLNL Laboratory for Energy Applications for the Future (LEAF).

–Melissa Lewelling