Prompt 1:
Describe at least 5 partnerships with individuals and/or organizations that have been formed to support your project and that impact the success or failure of your venture. For each partnership, explain: 1) What constituted the partnership? 2) How did the partner help you? How did you help them? 3) Was this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not? 4) What would help strengthen this partnership and make it more equitable?
- Ph.D. students working at Lehigh’s Energy Research Center: Lida, Julio, and Abhinay are current partnerships with individuals who positively impact the success of our venture through their technical assistance.
o Lida helped us in the lab by providing ingredients and the formula for making the PCM material. He also lent us some equipment from his lab. The relationship was not symbiotic because he was offering technical assistance to our project, but he has not needed our service in return. To strengthen this partnership, when we are finished using the PCM we could offer to donate it to Lida to use for his experiments. We can also ensure his advisor, Dr. Romero, also receives more regular feedback on how helpful Lida has been.
o Julio has been present at many meetings offering his knowledge and advice. The relationship has not been symbiotic because it has been one-directional. Although he has expressed enjoyment in working with undergraduate students and interest in the results of our project, there are still ways we can make the partnership more equitable. We could give him credit for any deliverables we come up with and also ensure Dr. Romero knows how helpful he has been.
o Abhinay has devoted many hours to creating a simulation of our prototype using sophisticated software. The relationship was symbiotic because he said our model gave him more modeling experience that he leveraged for his dissertation. We could credit Abhinay’s digital model in any report or project submission to a conference or journal. Moreover, one of our team members offered to assist him in connecting to potential employers after he graduates.
- Lehigh’s Energy Research Center faculty/staff such as Dr. Romero, Bob, and Colleen are current partnerships that directly contribute to our success through their hands-on assistance.
o Dr. Romero, the director of the ERC, is our advisor for the CSIF fellowship. He offers weekly advice on moving forward and potential ideas for our product and ensures our team is on track. Our partnership is symbiotic because it keeps him in touch with students and increases the participation and number of projects at the ERC he directs. To strengthen the cooperation and make it more equitable, we can provide positive feedback about his role to leadership at the university.
o Bob built the PCM box prototype and our testing area at the ERC. Dr. Romero advised us to work with Bob as he is a resource to the ERC. Ours has been a symbiotic relationship since Bob is compensated based on work available at the ERC. He received remuneration for helping us. To make the relationship more equitable, we could ensure Dr. Romero and others at the university know how helpful Bob was to us and what an asset he is.
o Colleen works at the ERC and helps us purchase items essential to our venture and manages our budget. Just like the other aforementioned faculty and staff, it is a symbiotic relationship because her role is to support the students at the ERC. To make the relationship more equitable, we can ensure Dr. Romero and others at the university know how helpful Collen was to us and what an asset she is.
- Stone House Group is a Bethlehem company dedicated to energy management and sustainability consulting services that have offered to assist us. Still, we have not fully explored how we can bring about the full benefits of a partnership.
o To date, they have offered to provide their flat-iron roof as an area to test our product. However, one of our team members interned there this past summer, and there are also opportunities to:
- Utilize mentorship and advice from former Lehigh University students who are now employees.
- Explore possible grants they might be willing to offer.
- Network with their connections.
o We could make any future partnership more equitable by potentially showing them our findings hence connecting them to solar research. We could also connect them to others at the ERC.
- Environmental leaders at major cities in the Lehigh Valley are partnerships that have been explored preliminarily but have not been fully leveraged. However, we recognize these individuals and entities could help market our innovation, connect us to funding, and grow our network.
o Environmental Advisory Councils for Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton are individuals who advocate reducing their respective city’s carbon footprint and promoting renewable energy. Although one of our team members has communicated with the EAC in Allentown, she has connections to the other councils. To make our future partnership more equitable, we could give the EACs public credit for discovering new green technologies so the public knows the value they offer to them.
o Mayors of the three major cities in the Lehigh Valley have publicly expressed an interest in reducing the carbon footprint of their cities. One of our team members actually worked with the Bethlehem Mayor on the city’s Climate Action Plan. Since one of our team members has had excellent working relationships with all three current mayors, she would be prepared to approach them directly on our project and how it could be beneficial to their residents. To make it more equitable, we could publicly extol the mayors for promoting innovations in solar technology, such as our project.
o Environmental advocates such as the Lehigh Valley Citizens Climate Corps are connecting with the public on ways to promote renewable energy. Through their direct contact with our possible customers, they would be an essential entity to cultivate a relationship with. Although one of our members briefly mentioned our project to the LV Citizens Climate Corps, there are opportunities to build a partnership with them and other energy advocacy groups. To make it more equitable, our group could serve as resources to them since we are all studying
sustainability.
- Organizations and individuals focused on startups/innovators are projected partnerships that we have not fully explored. This partnership would have the potential to increase our network, connect to funding sources, and access
to potential partners.
o Although one of our team members already approached the Ben Franklin Tech Partners of Northeast PA’s manager of Entrepreneurial Support for general advice, further inroads and assistance could be requested, primarily to network with others in this innovation space. Ben Franklin Tech Partners and other organizations hosting meetups for people starting new ventures are essential for our group to connect to. To make it more equitable, our group could serve as speakers or offer our assistance in any way they would need.
Prompt 2:
Provide at least 2 compelling and specific examples of how you might engage with each of the 11 types of organizations that we discussed in class.
#1 Multilaterals
- Thermosolar can request technical assistance from the UN Energy. Since the UN Energy is described as “a gateway for sharing information, knowledge, experiences and good practices, both between members/partners and more broadly, through dynamic and action-oriented approaches and with extensive use of information and communication technologies,” we can connect with experts in thermal and solar energy for ways to improve our prototype.
- Additionally, we can leverage Lehigh University’s NGO status at the UN for more ways to connect to the UN and resources through them.
- https://www.un.org/en/energycompacts/page/about
- Thermosolar could contact the International Renewable Energy Agency and inquire about their Project Facilitation activities, which support the deployment of renewable energy projects by helping project developers secure financing more efficiently.
#2 Government Agencies
- Thermosolar can apply for a $20,000 grant from the DOE’s State Energy Program, available because of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, administered by Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection for the development, implementation, and installation of our technology at commercial installations
- The Department of Energy has an Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Technology Innovation Portal, which is a resource for technologies that were developed with Energy Department funding. We could look into these technologies and see if anything can be utilized for the development of our project.
#3 Non-profits
- Thermosolar can contact the Sustainable Energy Fund for funding for the project. Many of the project members have connections with Dr. Rudy Shankar, Lehigh University’s Energy Systems Engineering program director, who is on the board of directors of the SEF.
- Thermosolar can publish its findings with our research to the IEEE’s publications. This would reach more technology professionals, who could provide advice and ideas with us to make a better product for our venture. These professionals can also provide us with contacts for potential partnerships. Since one of our team members knows the leaders of the LV Chapter, she could leverage that connection too.
#4 Foundations
- Thermosolar can apply for a Venture Well grant since we have a technological innovation and are working on a prototype. If we apply to be part of the E-team for VentureWell (VentureWell Accelerator), we can be awarded up to $25,000 dollars as well as be given sponsored training, networking and mentorship opportunities, and national exposure/recognition.
- Although it was difficult to find support from foundations for individual student projects, since most funded 501 (c)(3) orgs for their programs, our project could be one among a few that Lehigh University submits to the United Engineering Foundation. It could be more specific funding under the Campsus Sustainable Impact Fellowship program. It appears the university could submit as much as $100K from this foundation.
#5 Academia
- Thermosolar can contact Lehigh’s Small Business Development Center that provides support on many levels to entrepreneurs and small business owners. Lehigh professors often use SBDC client businesses for real-world case studies and research projects, so we could discuss with Dr. Romero/Khanjan/Bill this partnership.
- Thermsolar can also contact Professors from the Material Science and Engineering department, specifically, Dr. Misiolek who has previously worked with phase change materials for thermal energy storage on various occasions. This will be of significant value when determining what material would be suitable for the box that could contain the commercial grade salt.
#6 Social Ventures
- Thermosolar can partner with Earthspark through Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, which is a social venture installing mini-grids in villages in Haiti. Through this partnership, the people in Haiti would be provided with more renewable energy through our product, while we gather more data and testing on how our product works in realistic conditions.
- Thermosolar can partner with Quintas Renewable Energy Solutions, a social enterprise that provides equipment and services for biomass, solar, and natural gas technologies to address huge energy gaps in Sub-Saharan Africa. Through this partnership, the people in Sub-Saharan Africa would be provided with more solar energy, addressing the energy gaps while reducing the use of natural gas and biomass. In addition, we would have more data on how our product works in the climates of deserts, Sahel, savannas, and tropical forests.
#7 Think Tanks
- Thermosolar can apply to join the Energy Think Tank which consists of “global energy thought leaders to solve energy challenges”. Members share ideas, participate in educational forums, attend events that encourage engagement, and speak at our conferences. This could be great presentation and networking opportunities for our group.
- Thermosolar can join the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, which consists of policymakers, businesses, and other stakeholders to “meet our critical climate and energy challenges”. We can present our venture under an innovative energy technology and meet with its members through forums and conferences.
#8 K-12 System
- Contact Whitehall High School or Broughal Middle School to test our prototype at their school land, gathering more data on how our product works in realistic conditions. In exchange, we can teach the students the basics behind our project, what our project is all about, and what we are hoping to do with it.
- Let high school students use our prototype in physics lab experiments and we can utilize the data they collect (if software is available). This would give students the opportunity to experience a college research project while providing us with more lab data.
#9 Corporations
- Thermosolar can partner with Jinko Solar to integrate the PCM as part of the solar panel. Jinko Solar manufactures monofacial, silicon-based solar panels, which are the panels we wish to use with our product. By integrating our product with the production of these solar panels, it would save costs in installing our product onto the panel.
- Thermosolar can partner with Enphase Energy to sell our product in the general market. Enphase sells many solar panel accessories, such as micro-inverters, battery energy storage, EV charging stations, and other accessories. With Enphase endorsing our product, we would have much more credibility to our venture and our product.
#10 Consulting Firms
- Accenture, a large consulting company, which has received “Technology Advisory Firm of the Year” award from Energy Risk 6x, could offer valuable information, research, recommendations, and data on energy/the future renewables landscape, and how our designs could impact the public at a much greater scale. Their research reports utility scale solar that could be useful to us.
- Ernst and Young offer energy and resources consulting, tackling the decarbonization, digitization, and cost pressures in the energy and resources industry. We can use their research, recommendations, and networking to establish relationship with partners.
#11 Startups
- Blue Elephant Energy acquires and operates solar and wind parks in 8 countries, focusing on Western and Central Europe. They have supplied 1,110,767 households with clean energy and saving 1,462,823 tons of CO2, as well as securing 1,707 MWp solar parks. We can present our venture and demonstrate how it can further increase the efficiency of the panels they are acquiring thus maximizing their profits when selling the energy back to customers to achieve a larger portfolio.
- DST Innovations researches and develops sources of renewable energy for commercial and industrial use (our target audience with Thermosolar). We can present to them our venture and receive feedback from the engineers as to what what materials are suitable and where to potentially experiment at a large scale.