Gates, Immelt form group to push for R&D funding

Greenwire, 23 April 2010 - Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates and other leading executives have founded a new group to advocate for more federal funding for energy research and development.

Gates and former DuPont Chairman and CEO Chad Holliday announced the creation of the American Energy Innovation Council (AEIC) today in The Washington Post .

The pair noted that while technology and pharmaceutical companies spend 5 to 15 percent of their revenue on research and development each year, private-sector spending on energy research has averaged about one-quarter of 1 percent of revenue over the past 15 years.

"And despite talk about the need for '21st-century' energy sources, federal spending on clean energy research -- less than $3 billion -- is also relatively small. Compare that with roughly $30 billion that the U.S. government annually spends on health research and $80 billion on defense research and development," their column said.

They plan to devise "detailed recommendations" in a few months, then take their ideas to Congress, the White House and other venues.

Other executives involved in the group are General Electric Co. Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt, former Lockheed Martin Corp. CEO Norman Augustine and Xerox Corp. CEO Ursula Burns.

Staff work for the new group will be done by the ClimateWorks Foundation and the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Author Mike Soraghan Publication Date 23 Apr 2010 Document Type News articles Issue/Topic Business Role/CSR Energy & Climate Energy Efficiency in Buildings Technology/Innovation Region North America Country United States Company DuPont General Electric Company Source Greenwire Include In RSS Business & Sustainable Development News Energy & Climate News