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IOF: A vision of the future for core US industries
Globalization of the world's economies puts new pressure on
industries—especially manufacturing. Greater environmental
regulation and costlier labor in the U.S. drive some companies to
locate offshore while other companies simply close their doors.
The IOF program envisions core industry sectors that are environmentally
benign, highly productive, energy efficient, technologically savvy,
and globally competitive. Through this program, run by the U.S.
DOE Office of Industrial Technologies (ITP), industry, government,
and academic partners develop a vision for energy-intensive industrial
sectors and outline roadmaps to target the gaps in existing practice
and technology that need to be spanned to make the vision real.
The result is a federally co-funded, industry-driven research and
development program focusing on eight energy-intensive industry
sectors. ITP and industry partners have created an effective model
for technology development:
- First, industry defines a vision and long-term goals.
- Next, they work together to build technology roadmaps with specific
research and development pathways.
- Finally, ITP and industry share
the costs of research and development (R&D)
projects specified by those roadmaps and reach the common goals
of improving not only energy efficiency, but economic viability,
energy security, environmental quality, and resource conservation.
ITP's
efforts have resulted in over 160 technologies successfully reaching
the marketplace, providing significant economic and environmental
impacts for the United States. IOF partnerships can help fill the
void left by the decline in U.S. industrial R&D centers and
corporate investment in R&D—especially
in IOF industry sectors.
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