Sofi's Collaborative vision
The time is ripe for the creation of a global solar fuels consortium: SOFI’s support stems from an international, wide-ranging groundswell that began with the solar fuels community, but has since exponentially grown. Beginning in February 2012, global universities, government labs, academic institutions, private corporations and non-profit organizations have come together to realize the vision that SOFI presents.
Early R&D consortia such as the Human Genome Project emerged from the recognition that shared challenges were best addressed with shared resources. The increased availability of new collaborative tools has enabled enormous improvements in roadmapping technology and data-sharing platforms, thereby facilitating the establishment of new consortia representing a vast array of technologies. Although funding, especially in the case of early-stage R&D consortia, has generally been sourced through government agencies, financial support also comes through a combination of membership fees, industry sponsorship and philanthropy. SOFI’s business model has been crafted in response to the strengths and weaknesses R&D consortia commonly face. The principal challenges facing a solar consortium are:
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