Konarka Executive Chairman and Co-Founder Invited Speaker at Metropolitan Policy Program and Blueprint for American Prosperity Event

Howard Berke to Speak at the Metropolitan Policy Program at The Brookings Institution Energy Research Event – Monday, February 9, 2009 – Washington, D.C.

Lowell, Mass. – Feb. 4, 2009 – Konarka Technologies, Inc., an innovator in development and commercialization of Konarka Power Plastic®, a material that converts light to energy, today announced that Howard Berke, executive chairman and co-founder of Konarka, is an invited speaker at the Metropolitan Policy Program and Blueprint for American Prosperity Event hosted by The Brookings Institution on Monday, February 9, 2009 in Washington, D.C. With new national leadership committed to investing in clean energy technology, Brookings will be exploring new research paradigms for energy in the U.S.

WHAT: Metropolitan Policy Program and Blueprint for American Prosperity Event hosted by The Brookings Institution

WHO: Howard Berke, executive chairman and co-founder of Konarka Technologies, Inc.

WHEN: Monday, February 9, 2009, 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

WHERE: National Press Club, 529 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20045

At the event, the Blueprint for American Prosperity will release a new report examining the role of expanded energy research in reinvigorating America’s metropolitan economies, tackling security challenges and responding to global climate change. Prominent voices in industry, education, the environmental community and government will comment on the role the institutes can play in these areas. Howard Berke will be joined by moderator William Bates, vice president for Government Affairs, Council on Competitiveness; Michael Shellenberger, president, Breakthrough Institute; John Denniston, partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Billy M. Glover, managing director—environmental strategy, Boeing Commercial Airplanes; William Harris, president and CEO, Science Foundation Arizona; and Jeffrey Wadsworth, president and CEO, Battelle Memorial Institute.

The new Blueprint for American Prosperity report, “Energy Discovery-Innovation Institutes: A Step toward Energy Sustainability,” argues that America’s capacity for groundbreaking energy research, development and commercialization can be enhanced through the creation of a network of energy-oriented “discovery-innovation institutes” — highly networked, multidisciplinary, applications-oriented research centers designed to complement the nation’s federal laboratories and corporate R&D centers with a radically different model for converting breakthrough inventions into market-ready technology.

For more information or to register for the event, visit: http://www.brookings.edu/events/2009/0209_energy_innovation.aspx.

About Brookings
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Our mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations that advance three broad goals: strengthen American democracy; foster the economic and social welfare, security and opportunity of all Americans and secure a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international system. For more information, visit: http://www.brookings.edu.

About Konarka Technologies, Inc.
Konarka develops and manufactures solar plastic films that convert light to energy – anywhere. As the leading developer of polymer-based, organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology that provide a source of renewable power in a variety of form factors, Konarka has a broad portfolio of patents, technology licenses and an accomplished technical, scientific and manufacturing team. Manufactured at low cost and low energy consumption, the company's Konarka Power Plastic® technology is lightweight, flexible, scalable and adaptable for use in a variety of commercial, industrial, government and consumer applications. Konarka Technologies is headquartered in Lowell, Mass., U.S.A. and has a full scale production manufacturing facility in New Bedford, Mass. U.S.A., with European headquarters in Nurnberg, Germany, business development offices in Asia and a research and development facility in Austria. For additional information, visit  http://www.konarka.com.

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