If you go back to the origins of the computer industry, imagine a bunch of guys in lab coats sitting around a laboratory, and these are the smartest guys in the world, and they've invented things.
Like ARPA-E, EERE is now cooperatively negotiating research milestones into its funding opportunities with its National Lab, industry, and University research partners so that its investments are geared toward technology outcomes (e.g. cheap solar panels, high performance vehicle batteries, etc.).
