The kind of programs the government should be getting behind

I saw this program at the Stanford entrepreneurs week:
There’s also an interesting pitch contest. If you’re eighteen to twenty-five years old, all you have to do is submit a two-minute video. In this video, you should explain your answer to this question: What product or service would you offer to help reduce America’s dependency on oil and other fossil fuels?
Makes me wonder, why doesn't the US government get behind this kind of thing in a big way?