So this is a piece about the USA licensing out a technology they should have used themselves.
In fact the point is that the original founder of the vanadium redox flow battery didn't find an investor. Sad story the best idea won't be a success without backers of the idea...
Maybe it was appropriate for the US not to pursue it too much, as China has by far the world's largest supplies of vanadium, and in clear 2nd position is Russia? Maybe that had something to do with the thinking?