The Direct Air Capture (DAC) Commercial Prize awards cash prizes to teams that already have a technology that can capture CO2 and scale it up to achieve a removal target. Teams will win increasingly larger prizes as they successfully scale up their DAC technologies over the course of four phases. Each phase requires compounding progress of the team’s DAC technology development.
The Direct Air Capture (DAC) Pre-Commercial Technology Prize awards cash prizes to teams that identify a critical need in the DAC industry, develop a solution to address this gap, and test the idea to a degree of scale. It aims to focus on the steps of ideation and entrepreneurship needed to prepare a technology and business for commercialization. Teams will win increasingly larger prizes as they successfully meet technology milestones over the course of three phases: Dream, Design, and Develop. Each phase requires compounding progress of the team’s DAC technology development.
The Direct Air Capture (DAC) Pre-Commercial Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Prize awards cash prizes to regional incubator teams that submit creative and impactful plans to support entrepreneurs and innovators in the DAC space and create meaningful community engagement. It aims to support both emerging and established direct air capture incubators and accelerators in implementing those plans to develop strong clusters, resources, and connections for energy startups and entrepreneurs.
The Conductivity-enhanced materials for Affordable, Breakthrough Leapfrog Electric and thermal applications (CABLE) Conductor Manufacturing Prize aims to help supercharge our U.S. energy and manufacturing industries. Competitors must demonstrate significant enhancements in conductivity and affordability that enable U.S. manufacturers to leapfrog to next-generation materials. Competitors will provide a sample of their material for electrical conductivity testing and preliminary plans to scale-up and manufacture the material according to prize requirements. Any eligible entity can compete in Stage 2 regardless of whether they were a competitor in Stage 1.
The Department of Defense (DoD) seeks to prototype on-site geothermal solution(s) to address its energy resilience needs through geothermal electricity generation and distribution. Currently the DoD is reliant on off-site electricity providers to obtain energy in support of its critical mission to ensure our nation’s security. DoD is also dependent on off-site electricity to conduct its globe-spanning missions in air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace. This energy dependence creates mission risks due to disruptions from extreme weather and cybersecurity attacks. Therefore, the DoD is seeking a novel approach using the power of the earth through geothermal energy which is carbon-free and can provide continuous/reliable power regardless of weather conditions to 1) maintain military mission continuity and 2) comply with Congressional mandate under the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act to provide its critical missions with 99.9 percent reliable energy by 2030.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) today announced an opportunity for hydropower developers and other stakeholders to receive technical assistance from the DOE national laboratories to advance hydropower’s role on the electricity grid. This technical assistance opportunity is open to hydropower developers, system operators, utilities, energy co-ops, manufacturers, regulators, policymakers, nonprofits, and others. Both for-profit and nonprofit companies or entities that are incorporated (or otherwise formed) under the laws of a particular state or territory of the United States are eligible to apply.
The DOE SC program in Accelerator Research and Development and Production (ARDAP) hereby announces its interest in applications to conduct cross-cutting use-inspired basic research and development to advance accelerator science and technology (AS&T) and domestic supplier development that supports SC’s activities in physical sciences research, and which is of broader benefit to other U.S. government agencies and industry. Please note that this Funding Opportunity Announcement is for cross-cutting R&D and domestic supplier development and that program-specific AS&T R&D is supported though FOAs issued by each SC program.
The NASA SBIR program focuses on transforming scientific discovery into products and services through innovations that have potential for infusion into NASA programs and missions, potential for commercialization into NASA relevant commercial markets, and have a societal benefit. Phase I work and results should provide a sound basis for the continued development, demonstration, and delivery of the proposed innovation in Phase II and follow-on efforts. Successful completion of Phase I objectives is a prerequisite to consideration for a Phase II award. The SBIR Phase I contracts last for 6 months, with a maximum funding of $150,000.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is offering $50,000 to $200,000 in prize awards for impactful and inclusive approaches to foster a thriving, collaborative national innovation support ecosystem to advance research and development (R&D) from ideas to impact. By fostering connections between entrepreneurs, advisors, mentors, partners, philanthropies, corporations, investors, and other shared resources, the 2023 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC) will catalyze strategic ecosystem partnerships to build community and organizational capacity for the successful launch, growth, and scale of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)-based entrepreneurs and startups.
This multitopic FOA is a joint effort between EERE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO), the Building Technologies Office (BTO), and DOE’s Office of Electricity (OE).
Specifically, the goals of this multi-topic FOA are to:
• Validate and demonstrate next generation materials and manufacturing processes including domestic pilot demonstrations and related technologies to support the transition to U.S. manufacturing;
• Enable environmentally and socially responsible domestic manufacturing with diversified domestic supply of feedstocks including from recycled goods; and
• Mature nascent technologies, processes, and methods that improve the performance and market penetration of clean energy technologies and emerging building efficiency technologies.
Isotope R&D and Production (IP) FOA will support MSI-led efforts to increase diversity in the isotope workforce development pipeline. MSI-led teams will partner with sites funded by IP to engage in routine isotope production. Students will participate in isotope production related research, fostering the next generation workforce of isotope scientists and engineers. Efforts will also expand research and training capabilities of MSIs and opportunities for their faculty. Webinar: January 17th, 12 pm EST. Register here.
The Nuclear Physics (NP) FOA will support workforce development and increased workforce diversity especially from underrepresented groups via a wide range of activities that increase entry points into the research community, support retention, and expanding research capabilities at institutions with historically low participation in nuclear science. Webinar: January 27th, 3 pm EST. Register here.
