The Energy-Related Inventions Program: Evaluation challenges and solutions

Abstract

This paper describes results of evaluation of the Energy-Related Inventions Program (ERIP), focusing on the methodological challenges faced by the evaluators and solutions implemented. Operated jointly by US DOE and NIST, ERIP is one of the longest running commercialization assistance programs in US. The evaluation suggest that ERIP is a cost-effective federal investment. By the end of 1994, 24% of ERIP technologies had entered the market, producing total cumulative sales of $961 million (1994 dollars). With$124 million in program appropriations 1975-94, ERIP has an 8:1 return. At least 757 job-years were directly supported by ERIP technologies in 1994, and 6, 646 job-years of employment have been created over the past decade. The sales and employment supported by ERIP technologies are associated with $4.4 million in 1994 federal tax returns. Many issues must be addressed to fairly appraise public investments in technology commercialization programs, such as the need to track the program participants for extended periods, complexities in accounting for spinoff technologies, determining the validity of program evaluations, and dealing with performance data that are dominated by a small number of highly successful technologies