The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)'s annual Innovation Day began in 2024 to foster a collaborative environment for industry organizations to explore potential partnerships with NNSA national laboratories, plants and sites.
This summer, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) helped to host NNSA's Innovation Day at the University of California Santa Cruz extension in Santa Clara, Calif. LLNL brought its local innovation ecosystem partners together from across Silicon Valley and the Bay Area to explore the ways in which industry expertise and that of the NNSA enterprise could work together to strengthen U.S. national security and economic competitiveness through science and technology.
LLNL's Deputy Director for Science and Technology Pat Falcone offered an official welcome to event attendees, following an NNSA overview by the NNSA Deputy Assistant Deputy Administrator of the Technology and Partnerships Office (TPO), Jahleel Hudson. LLNL's Innovation and Partnerships Office (IPO) Director Matthew Garrett also moderated an "Investing in America's Edge" panel, featuring private capital perspectives on dual-use technology and the NNSA enterprise.
The event brought together startups, investors, universities and ecosystem partners for an inside look at the NNSA - a U.S. federal agency responsible for "safeguarding national security through the military application of unequaled science, technology, engineering and manufacturing."
Attendees gained insight into the NNSA, including what it does and how to engage in its mission space. Organizations partnered with the NNSA network can gain a competitive edge through access to world-class facilities, expertise and testbeds that are not available commercially.
Partnering with NNSA labs also provides industry with an opportunity to explore pathways to accelerate development, validate technologies earlier and de-risk innovation from a technical and market perspective. Companies, startups and investors that leverage NNSA's mission-driven ecosystem gain early visibility into mission-aligned technologies and help mature early-stage inventions through commercialization and deployment.
"Many industries come together to form innovative partnerships that advance mutual priority areas," said Garrett. "The best partnerships explore pathways to leverage high-confidence technologies and accelerate development through early validation, maturing technological breakthroughs that can hold impact for decades to come."
Focus areas for the event's sessions included advanced manufacturing, specifically semiconductors and microelectronics; advanced materials processing, specifically critical materials and minerals; energy resilience, specifically critical infrastructure; and digital transformation, specifically related to the Department of Energy's Genesis Mission. Several LLNL researchers presented on these focus area topics, and a networking mixer hosted by NNSA and the Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation followed event programming to support new connections becoming real partnerships.
-Melissa Lewelling
