JM: PureBeam is developing a swiss-army knife way of treating wastewater. IEC: What product/innovation is PureBeam trying to bring to market? The Fermilab team was able to evolve their approach from a very broad perspective and set of interview goals to asking really targeted questions about their potential customersвЂ™ pain points. Each interview is like a game of chess to discover what you can reasonably learn from that discussion, and what the best way to tease out that information is.

JM: Like every day is different, every interview is also. A good fraction of the interviews result in suggestions for other potential contacts in their network. They also want to understand why a few guys from FermiLab want to understand water chemistry, and how we think we might help. IEC: What are customer discovery interviews like?Д«K: Typically people are happy to speak for a little bit about what they do and how it relates to our potential market area. Then some more emails in the evening to try to get more contacts. We try to schedule them in blocks, and follow those up with a discussion to synthesize what we have learned and what we need to do next. We discuss the goals of each of the interviews and do background research on the folks weвЂ™re going to speak with. Typically we start our week reviewing the goals for customer outreach for the coming days and going over the planned interviews. The team starts everyday with an identity check and they ask themselves: вЂњWho are we trying to serve? What value are we going to provide? And how are we going to get there?вЂќ ItвЂ™s a really interesting and dynamic way to think about developing a technology.Д«K: A lot of emails and phone calls. ItвЂ™s a real crash course in the entrepreneurial mindset itвЂ™s like envisioning, building, and redesigning an airplane while itвЂ™s in the air. ItвЂ™s also the novelty and learning experience of it for someone coming from a research background. JM: I donвЂ™t know that there is a typical day, and that is sort of the excitement. IEC: What does a typical day look like in the Energy I-Corp Program? One of the hardest questions we get in basic research is вЂњwhat does the research youвЂ™re doing do for society?вЂќ Sometimes there are very direct tangible benefits to basic research, and the hope for me was that this program would help develop the language to communicate that. It also seemed like a unique opportunity to study scientific outreach. I was excited to bring my experience and network to support a team like PureBeam so they can advance their technology and, hopefully, bring it to a meaningful market.Д«K: For me it was an interesting opportunity to develop a complementary skill set compared with my daily work. I applaud FermiLabsвЂ™ increasing focus on leveraging basic science to combat societal problems. JM: I have always appreciated the knowledge and technology created by the National Labs. IEC: What made you want to join the program? We sat down with Jeff and Brendan earlier this month to hear about their Energy I-Corps experience.ДЇor clarity: IEC вЂ“ Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center. For those who have not heard about Energy I-Corps, it pairs teams of national laboratory researchers with industry mentors for an intensive two-month training program where the researchers define technology value propositions, conduct customer discovery interviews, and develop viable market pathways for their technologies.

With Cohort 7 wrapping up, we talked to Team PureBeamвЂ™s Industry Mentor, Jeff Margolis of Innovation Strategies Consulting, and Entrepreneurial Lead, Brendan Kiburg of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), about what makes the program special.

Department of Energy (DOE) Energy I-Corps accelerator celebrated graduation from the program near the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) headquarters in Golden, Colorado.

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