Jon Glass | Senior Technology-to-Market Advisor, DOE ARPA-E

Episode notes

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast. Today, host Karan Takhar sits down with Jon Glass, Senior Technology-to-Market Advisor at the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy or ARPA-E. They discuss his role at ARPA-E and how the opportunity to work there came about as well as what inspired him to do this kind of work. Jon shares an overview of ARPA-E’s process, how companies or academics can get involved, and how much weight ARPA-E puts on which early-stage companies have the most potential to bridge the gap from bold research to commercialization. They go on to discuss how ARPA-E brings in private sector advisors, like Jon, to help companies get to commercialization, and Jon shares several surprising and unconventional innovations he and his co-workers have supported over the years. Karan and Jon talk about the convergence of AI and the climate tech space, the hard lessons Jon’s learned in his career, and Jon gives advice to young investors looking to engage in this sector. If you haven’t subscribed to the podcast yet, be sure to do so, and