The American-Made Challenges’ Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Prize recognizes the nation’s most innovative incubators. Sponsored by the Office of Technology Transitions at the U.S. Department of Energy, EPIC will award prizes to competitors that submit the most creative and impactful plans to develop strong clusters, connections, and support for startups and entrepreneurs whose businesses focus on energy-related technologies. Up to 20 teams will be awarded $50,000 each.

This funding opportunity is part of the American-Made Challenges series, which unites the world’s best-in-class research base with the unparalleled entrepreneurial support system of the American-Made Network. Consisting of pioneering maker spaces, dozens of energy incubators, universities, and 17 DOE National Laboratories, the Network is primed to create a sweeping portfolio of innovations to demonstrate the promise of additive manufacturing.

Each year, this accelerator finds 15-20 companies that best fit their mission and fund each company up to $1 million to improve systems that impact people’s lives: energy, water, food & agriculture, mobility, and the circular economy.

This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) seeks opportunities to co-create, co-design, and co-invest in the research, development, piloting, and scaling of innovative and cost-effective interventions to support the advancement of self-reliant energy sectors in developing countries.

USAID invites organizations, companies, government agencies, academic and research institutions, and investors to propose innovative approaches to address the diverse set of challenges faced by countries that are striving to achieve universal access to reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy services. USAID developed this BAA for Energy Sector Self-Reliance to expand the Agency’s ability to engage with a wide range of implementing partners and service providers within the global energy sector, and develop new means to rapidly deliver tailored, best-in-class assistance and technologies to help strengthen national and regional energy systems.

Each year Women Founders Network creates a unique opportunity for Female Founders. What makes their pitch competition different than other fast pitch competitions is the valuable leadership and in-kind sponsorships that offered as part of the program. This individualized attention allows the top women entrepreneurs to become pitch-ready in a way that sharpens their plans to scale their companies and makes their business more appealing to Angel and VC investors.