Early-Stage Technology R&D (approx. TRL 1-5)
Strengthening American Infrastructure (SAI)
Strengthening American Infrastructure (SAI) is an NSF Program seeking to stimulate human-centered fundamental and potentially transformative research aimed at strengthening America’s infrastructure. Effective infrastructure provides a strong foundation for socioeconomic vitality and broad quality of life improvement. Strong, reliable, and effective infrastructure spurs private-sector innovation, grows the economy, creates jobs, makes public-sector service provision more efficient, strengthens communities, promotes equal opportunity, protects the natural environment, enhances national security, and fuels American leadership. Achieving these objectives requires the integration of expertise from across all science and engineering disciplines. SAI focuses on how fundamental knowledge about human reasoning and decision-making, governance, and social and cultural processes enables the building and maintenance of effective infrastructure that improves lives and society and builds on advances in technology and engineering. Successful projects will represent a convergence of expertise in one or more SBE sciences deeply integrated with other disciplines to support substantial and potentially pathbreaking, fundamental research applied to strengthening a specific and focal infrastructure.
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COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH IN MAGNETIC FUSION ENERGY SCIENCES ON INTERNATIONAL TOKAMAKS
The DOE SC program in Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for experimental research in magnetic fusion energy sciences conducted on international tokamak facilities. Selected awards will be supported under the FES Burning Plasma Science: Long Pulse Tokamak program area, which supports U.S staff working in collaboration with international tokamak programs to explore critical science and technology issues at the frontiers of magnetic fusion energy research.
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Miller Center Accelerator
The Miller Center Accelerator is designed for high-potential social enterprises with proven traction, working on women’s economic empowerment, climate resilience, or the intersection of both. This 6-month accelerator program combines mentorship with structured curriculum to help social entrepreneurs address gaps in their impact model, business model, and growth strategies, and ultimately move them along the path toward growth, significant scale, and investment.
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Third Derivative 2022 Cohort
Bring your innovation to market faster with the best-networked climate tech accelerator. We’re here to help you bridge critical finance and resource gaps by uniting and aligning the world’s most promising climate tech startups—like you—with D3’s network of committed investors, corporate partners, market experts, and mentors. We’re looking for world-changing climate tech startups addressing billion-dollar markets in the areas of hard science, hardware, software, and business model innovation. If accepted, you’ll take part in our virtual, 18-month-long accelerator program.
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Ray of Hope Prize
The Ray of Hope Prize identifies the top nature-inspired startups in the world and fosters their growth by providing sustainable business training, communications support, and opportunities for non-dilutive funding—the top being a $100,000 equity-free prize. Armed with nature’s billions of years of research and development, these startups are uniquely suited to address critical environmental and social issues at scale.
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CTIA Wireless Foundation Catalyst
Catalyst is a competitive grants program for ambitious social entrepreneurs using the power of 5G and leading edge wireless technologies to enhance our lives and address pressing challenges in American communities. Up to six applicants will receive financial and non-financial benefits, with a first-place grant of $100,000.
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NREL’s Competitiveness Improvement Project
The distributed wind energy industry requires rapid innovation to reduce costs and increase customer confidence, but many companies that build small and mid-sized wind turbines lack the resources to develop, certify, and commercialize next-generation technology. Managed by NREL on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office, CIP awards cost-shared subcontracts and technical support to manufacturers of small and medium-sized wind turbines. Designed to make distributed wind energy technologies more cost-competitive and reliable, these awards help manufacturers of wind turbines less than 1 megawatt in capacity to:
- Optimize their designs
- Develop advanced manufacturing processes
- Perform turbine and component testing and certification
- Accelerate pathways for commercialization.
The goals of CIP are to make wind energy cost-competitive with other distributed generation technologies and increase the number of wind turbine designs tested and certified to national standards.
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Net Zero Accelerator
With a focus on piloting projects in real world, trackable implementations, we aim to rapidly drive measurable adoption of net zero solutions, today. We pair our Cohort companies with experts to encourage scalable solutions, promote awareness of their solutions to the right audience, and focus a strong emphasis on placing technology pilots with building partners that support a net positive future. All to make net zero carbon, energy, water, and waste a reality for LA, and beyond. Join us and become a net positive part of our net zero future. Key focus areas: waste, water, carbon, energy, and related (such as infrastructure, landscaping, indoor air quality, clean construction, and more).
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EARLY CAREER: DRIVERS AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF ENERGY TRANSITIONS IN UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is seeking applications proposing community-engaged research that will address the drivers and environmental impacts of energy transitions in underserved communities. For purposes of this competition and the evaluation of applications, “underserved communities” refers to populations sharing a particular characteristic, as well as geographic communities, that have been systematically denied a full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life, including people of color, low income, rural, tribal, indigenous, and other populations that may be disproportionately impacted by environmental harms and risks.
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ASPIRE
ASPIRE is an intensive program that prepares startups for the investments and partnerships necessary to launch their venture. Mentors-in-residence work one-on-one with startups to simulate due diligence conversations and integrate feedback into deal room materials in real-time. You will work with high-caliber mentors throughout the program that have experience investing or partnering with startups like yours. Startups will leave with a clear articulation of their investment needs, including the investment ask and planned milestones for the round. Take part in a mock board meeting to prepare yourself for fundraising and investor conversations. Spend time creating and refining deal room materials to use during the fundraising process. Invest your time and energy into work product for a deal room discussion, not a demo day pitch. Work through real-world disaster scenarios with your team to discover how to best prepare for the unexpected. Connect with fellow founders and leverage the VentureWell investor network after the program ends.
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Early Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Future Founders invites you to apply for the Early Entrepreneur Bootcamp, which is sponsored by the AB InBev Foundation (ABIF) with the financial and technical support provided by ZX Ventures. A six-month program focused on supporting founders from underrepresented populations (e.g., Black, Hispanic, female, non-binary), the Early Entrepreneur Bootcamp will guide early-stage entrepreneurs as they navigate the journey of launching their own business. Participation in the program will be 100% virtual and built on a framework of live skill-development workshops covering topics ranging from design thinking and customer discovery, to leadership, communication, and pitching. Founders who successfully complete the attendance and participation requirements of the Early Entrepreneur Bootcamp will also receive a $5,000 non-dilutive grant to help kickstart their business.
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CHEMICAL AND MATERIALS SCIENCES TO ADVANCE CLEANTECH AND LOW-CARBON MANUFACTURING
The DOE Office of Science program in Basic Energy Sciences (BES) announces its interest in receiving new applications to advance basic and fundamental chemical and materials sciences that underpin clean energy technologies and low-carbon manufacturing. The goal is creation of foundational knowledge to support the
development of approaches that will minimize climate impacts of energy technologies and manufacturing. For this FOA, clean energy technologies include approaches to capture, produce, convert, store, and use energy that reduce or eliminate unwanted emissions such as greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide, methane, etc.). These technologies also include approaches such as direct air capture (DAC) and carbon storage/sequestration to decrease emissions that have been
released into the environment from energy production and use. Low-carbon manufacturing refers to manufacturing processes that minimize carbon emissions and energy consumption. Investments from this FOA are anticipated to include awards that build foundational knowledge underpinning the Energy Earthshots Initiative. A mandatory pre-application must be submitted by March 16.
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