It's no secret that the U.S. National Laboratories -- fabled places like Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and 15 others -- have been at the forefront of technology innovation for decades. Collectively, the nation's 17 National Laboratories hold some 15,000 patents for a variety of innovations. However, only about 10 percent of these patents have been licensed for commercial use.

That is about to change.

Today, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the "America's Next Top Energy Innovator" challenge, which will give start-up companies the opportunity to license groundbreaking technologies developed by the National Laboratories for $1,000 and build successful businesses. The technologies include advanced materials, biomass and biofuels, energy storage, hydrogen and fuel cell, solar photovoltaic, and many others. In keeping with the federal government's goal of making it easier for startups to license these technologies, on May 2, 2011, the Department of Energy will release a streamlined template option agreement. It is hoped that this simplified paperwork -- combined with the dramatically lowered licensing fee -- will induce a flood of interest in commercializing these government-developed technologies.

So, if you've got a technology startup that's been looking for an edge on the competition, then be sure to take some time to browse the 15,000 National Laboratory patents. You just might turn out to be America's Next Top Energy Innovator.