Oct. 3—New Mexico's economy is heavily reliant on a few key sectors, including the federal government — due in large part to the national laboratories in the state.
While state officials continue seeking ways to diversify New Mexico's economy, federal and lab officials are also working to ensure the state sees independent economic growth.
How? By helping grow startups and small businesses.
Marcos Gonzales Harsha is the principal deputy director at the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Technology Transitions. He said a lot of the labs' science research missions are far from the public domain, like information around nuclear weapons. However, he said, with recent federal support and legislation — the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act — the labs can step into a more public light to help, especially in the business industry.
With the numerous financial incentives New Mexico offers its small businesses, companies can partner with the labs to use advanced equipment and experts to validate their work, Gonzales Harsha said.
For example, he said, companies trying to contribute to a larger hydrogen hub of the future or startups building out geothermal technology need testing and validation with high-performance assets that a small business just can't afford, but the labs can provide.
"Being able to leverage the lab assets, it's tremendous value," he said.
He added that the partnerships help not only serve the broader public but help the smaller companies secure other funding or customers.
"It's a technical merit award, almost. 'This has been tested by DOE people and through DOE assets, and it worked,'" he said.
Gonzales Harsha said there are results to back up these programs, which is shown through DOE's liftoff reports.
"It's just representative of the thinking that is now more pervasive at the Department of Energy — ergo, also through the national lab system — which is around not just the core mission of basic science and weapons research ... but also this promotion and support of a thriving business sector," he said.
He said that's especially true of startups, who "could be truly disruptive and therefore are more willing to take risks, sometimes on the transformational technology." He said great technologies die all the time because companies run out of money.
"That's where, again, if you can use it for free or at a reduced cost, not procure it yourself, but just make use of a lab facility, it just makes tons of sense," Gonzales Harsha said.