DOE’s Chief Commercialization Officer Visits PNNL to Help Drive Innovation to Markets

Technology invented at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) makes its way to commercial markets every year, assuring that innovation moves from concept to solutions that are beneficial to the nation. PNNL recently welcomed Anthony Pugliese, chief commercialization officer for the Department of Energy (DOE) and director of the DOE Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC), for his first visit to the Laboratory. Pugliese, appointed to head OTC in March of 2025, leads DOE efforts to accelerate the commercialization of energy technologies, strengthen partnerships between private and public sectors, and enhance technology transfers from DOE’s national laboratories.

“The Office of Technology Commercialization is ensuring that the amazing innovations coming from PNNL have the greatest market impact and real-world outcomes,” said Pugliese. “Our partnership with PNNL enhances the nation’s economic competitiveness, national security, and our global leadership in innovation and impactful technologies.”  

Pugliese, along with Chief of Staff Justin Bis, met with PNNL leadership from the Office of Collaboration and Commercialization to learn more about the Office of Collaboration and Commercialization’s contributions to and impact on DOE’s technology transfer mission. Pugliese also shared OTC perspectives and current priorities.

“Our team is creating streamlined pathways and processes to fully capture the intellectual property, innovations, and inventions developed at the Laboratory and to engage in bringing those inventions to the marketplace for the benefit of U.S. citizens,” said Christina Lomasney, PNNL’s director of Commercialization, Technology, Deployment and Outreach. “We are excited to work with Anthony and his team in the coming years to continue breaking down barriers in the technology transfer process and to identify market opportunities that align with PNNL capabilities and programs.”

While at PNNL, Pugliese toured the campus and heard from PNNL researchers and inventors about capabilities and programs in artificial intelligence (AI), nuclear energy, grid infrastructure security, airport technologies, and grid energy storage, among others. From innovations in advanced materials for nuclear reactors to metal manufacturing and award-winning, licensed programs for grid infrastructure security, Pugliese saw firsthand where research originates and evolves to meet the nation’s challenges of today and the future.

In the Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center—a ready resource for research, development, and technology testing to improve power grid management—Pugliese observed how the utility control room environment is used to prove the effectiveness of new grid reliability technologies like the Electrical Grid Resilience and Assessment System (EGRASS). EGRASS helps emergency managers better characterize storm impacts ahead of major weather events to prepare for and protect critical infrastructure. The software is one example of many successful collaborations, taking research and development work to utilities, the market, and industry.

Pugliese also visited the Grid Storage Launchpad, a national capability for energy storage research that recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. Throughout the tour, he learned more about how the Grid Storage Launchpad is enabling collaboration with industry partners to demonstrate and deploy energy storage technologies.

In the realm of AI, Pugliese learned of key partnerships with industry leaders in computing and how PNNL is leveraging those partnerships for the development and advancement of AI.

PNNL also organized an entrepreneurship roundtable for Pugliese to engage with local partners and academia to acquire their perspectives and insight.

“We’re grateful for Anthony’s visit to our PNNL campus and genuine interest in seeing the spaces where research comes to life before making it to the market,” said Lomasney. “We enjoyed the dialogue around OTC’s crucial role in expanding commercial impact and contributing to conversations about expanding our partnership around this shared mission.”