The Demand Response Research Center (DRRC) was established in spring 2004 by the California Energy Commission Public Interest Energy research (PIER) program to conduct research that advances the near-term adoption of demand response (DR) technologies, policies, programs, strategies and practices. While the DRRC focus is on California needs, there is clear recognition that many of California's demand response problems and issues are universal within North America and other parts of the world.To achieve its objectives, DRRC activities since 2004 have been guided by five tasks:

1. Create a roadmap to guide California DR Research.
2. Establish multi-institutional partnerships.
3. Pursue outreach efforts to foster connections with customer, vendors, utility, and other stakeholders.
4. Sustain long-term attention to DR research.
5. Conduct research, development, demonstrations, and technology transfer.

While the DRRC has established an impressive base of research since 2004, its success and achievement of its original PIER charter can be observed by examining four key areas of accomplishment: (1) key regulatory and policy accomplishments; (2) OpenADR / AutoDR implementations; (3) adoption and implementation of its research by non-utility competitive market providers, and; (4) its visibility and recognition as a DR thought and product leader outside of California and throughout the world.