IMO, the barrier to entry for battery and power systems manufacturing has been Capex moreso than the IP.
Innovating new battery chemistries or a new BMS is hard, but cell, module, and pack assembly is fairly straightforward.
Basically, my opinion is our blocker in the space wasn't lack of IP or domain knowledge, but the extremely high upfront costs to start, which is what IRA helped remediate.
With significant portions of the tech industry, it's the other way around - we may have coders, but we increasingly don't have the domestic domain experience at the entry and mid-level.
Absolutely - and I'm a big booster of industrial policy a la CHIPS/IRA!
But a CHIPS or IRA style policy wouldn't work if trying to bring services or IP-first industries back to the US. In my vertical (cybersecurity/DevSecOps) much of the domain experience has been hollowed out domestically for almost 10-15 years now.
If you're offshoring for the sake of R&D and IP generation, cost isn't a significant pressure (eg. Top Cybersecurity talent in Israel can demand US level salaries, and similar talent in India can demand EU level salaries).
There's a much larger pipeline and skills problem in several subdomains in the tech industry that are highly underestimated by HNers.
Innovating new battery chemistries or a new BMS is hard, but cell, module, and pack assembly is fairly straightforward.
Basically, my opinion is our blocker in the space wasn't lack of IP or domain knowledge, but the extremely high upfront costs to start, which is what IRA helped remediate.
With significant portions of the tech industry, it's the other way around - we may have coders, but we increasingly don't have the domestic domain experience at the entry and mid-level.