Time for the National Labs to Go Local

Ask any tech entrepreneur or start-up founder what they know about the Department of Energy's (DOE) national laboratories and most will shrug their shoulders. A few may refer to the famed Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb — the impetus for creating the labs in the 1940s. Even fewer will know how to engage with the labs to advance their business. This gap needs to be lessened if we hope to further leverage the expertise of the labs to spur innovation and economic growth.