Perspectives

  • It’s All Coming Together: The Promise of a Fusion Powered Future

    12.2.2021 In early 2018, the Commonwealth Fusion Systems team was hard at work planning its fusion machine just steps from my desk. Three years later I was standing in a control room amongst fusion engineers at the MIT Plasma Science Fusion Center as CFS successfully tested a magnet that can contain the same reaction that powers the stars.

  • Maximizing the Economic Benefits of the Endless Frontier Act

    05.6.2021 The Endless Frontier Act was unveiled in May 2020 to, “solidify the United States’ leadership in scientific and technological innovation through increased investments in the discovery, creation, and commercialization of…

  • Building a Tough Tech company is hard. This advice can help.

    03.17.2021 Building a Tough Tech company is hard. This advice can help. By Phil Inagaki, Operating Partner At The Engine, we don't shy away from investing in Tough Tech companies at…

  • A Foundational Technology Development and Deployment Office to Create Jobs

    11.12.2020 A Foundational Technology Development and Deployment Office to Create Jobs Produced for the Day One Project, this report outlines how the government could create a Foundational Technology Development and Deployment Office…

  • A National Frontier Tech Public-Private Partnership to Spur Economic Growth

    11.12.2020 A National Frontier Tech Public-Private Partnership to Spur Economic Growth Produced for the Day One Project, this report outlines how the government could create a $500M fund and an administration…

  • A Unified Government-VC Approach to Crossing the Valleys of Death

    08.10.2020 In this white paper, Orin Hoffman, a Venture Partner at The Engine, proposes a new approach to help early-stage Tough Tech companies cross their most challenging valleys of death. As…

  • Perspectives in the time of COVID-19

    04.22.2020 Perspectives in the time of COVID-19 by Katie Rae, CEO & Managing Partner When we set out to build The Engine a few years ago, we said that we were…

  • On Growing Companies, Not Programs

    10.31.2019 On Growing Companies, Not Programs The Importance of Government-VC Collaboration to Launch and Grow Companies Critical to the US National Industrial Base Download the PDF whitepaper here. The Need for…

  • A Recipe for Innovation

    06.18.2019 A Recipe for Innovation by Ann DeWitt, General Partner Sometimes founders open a door, not just to a new and potentially transformative technology, but to an entire industrial sector. Adam…

  • The Founder’s Paradox

    04.9.2019 The Founder’s Paradox by Reed Sturtevant, General Partner What is it that makes a founder extraordinary? A previous job? A previous lab? Those things are not as important to me…