The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced more than $35 million in funding for 42 projects through its Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF). The goal is to help move new energy technologies related to grid security, artificial intelligence, nuclear energy, and advanced manufacturing from DOE National Laboratories and other facilities into the marketplace. With over $21 million in cost sharing from private and public partners, total support for these projects will exceed $57.5 million.
The TCF program is managed by the Office of Technology Commercialization’s Core Laboratory Infrastructure for Market Readiness (CLIMR) Lab Call. This initiative supports public-private partnerships that aim to advance American innovation and strengthen both economic and national security.
“The Energy Department’s National Labs play an important role in ensuring the United States leads the world in innovation,” said Secretary Wright. “These projects have the potential to accelerate technological breakthroughs that will define the future of science and help secure America’s energy future.”
This year’s selected projects come from 19 different DOE National Labs, plants, and sites. Among them:
– Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will start America’s Cradle to Commerce (AC2C), expanding on a previous program that helped startups raise more than $15 million and launch five commercial pilots within 18 months.
– Pacific Northwest National Laboratory plans to improve its Visual Intellectual Property Search (VIPS) tool with a VIPS 2.0 project, making it easier to search for innovations available for licensing or open-source use across all National Labs.
– Argonne National Laboratory will work on advancing commercialization of OpenMC Monte Carlo particle transport code through the Exascale Computing Project, which could help speed up design and licensing timelines for U.S. nuclear reactor projects.
A full list of this year’s selections can be found at https://www.energy.gov/technologytransitions/articles/doe-announces-over-35-million-support-lab-market-projects-across-country.
