Early-Stage Technology R&D (approx. TRL 1-5)
Empire Technology Prize
The Empire Technology Prize is focused on finding groundbreaking solutions to tackle the greatest single source of GHG emissions from New York’s tall buildings – heating. Solutions that will be significantly easier for tall building owners to adopt – in short, high GHG reduction, minimally disruptive to install, with a path to cost competitiveness. To win, by the end of the 1 year program, teams must develop at least a tested prototype for a heating, or distribution system, that can be more easily installed than current solutions for existing New York State residential or commercial buildings 7 stories and higher.
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Spurring Projects to Advance Energy Research and Knowledge Swiftly (SPARKS)
The SPARKS program—short for Spurring Projects to Advance energy Research and Knowledge Swiftly—provides a rolling opportunity for the rapid support of early-stage applied research to explore innovative new concepts with the potential for transformational and disruptive changes in energy technology. SPARKS awards are intended to be flexible and may take the form of analyses or exploratory research that provides ARPA-E with useful information for the subsequent development of focused technology programs. Awards under the SPARKS program may also support proof-of-concept research to develop a unique technology concept, either in an area not currently supported by the agency or as a potential enhancement to an ongoing focused technology program. The broad objective of SPARKS is to identify disruptive concepts in energy-related technologies that challenge the status quo and represent a leap beyond today’s technologies. An innovative concept alone is not enough; the idea must also have the potential to be impactful—meaning that, if successful, it represents a fundamentally new paradigm in energy technology with the potential to make a significant impact on ARPA-E’s mission areas.
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Landis Family Fellowship for mHUB HardTech Development Services
This six-month fellowship empowers women and people of color to cultivate their technical and professional skills within the gig economy at mHUB. Fellows are offered unparalleled resources at mHUB’s cutting-edge innovation center in Chicago, including access to $6M worth of prototyping equipment, professional and technical development workshops, and a diverse innovation ecosystem.
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Environmental System Science (ESS)
The BER ESS program goal is to advance an integrated, robust, and scale-aware predictive understanding of terrestrial systems and their interdependent microbial, biogeochemical, ecological, hydrological, and physical processes. To support this goal, the program uses a systems approach to develop an integrative framework to elucidate the complex processes and controls on the structure, function, feedbacks, and dynamics of terrestrial systems, that span from molecular to global scales and extend from the bedrock through the soil, rhizosphere, and vegetation to the atmosphere. The ESS program scope advances foundational process knowledge with an emphasis on understudied ecosystems. Supported research emphasizes ecological and hydro-biogeochemical linkages among system components and characterization of processes across interfaces (e.g., terrestrial-aquatic, coastal, urban) to address key knowledge gaps and uncertainties across a range of spatial and temporal scales. Incorporation of scientific findings into process and system models is an important aspect of the ESS strategy, both to improve predictive understanding as well as to enable the identification of new research questions and directions.
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Apply to Present at NREL’s Industry Growth Forum
In its 29th year, the Industry Growth Forum (IGF) is the premier event for climate tech and cleantech entrepreneurs, investors, and experts from industry and the public sector to build relationships, showcase innovative technologies, and identify disruptive business solutions. Presenting companies are chosen from applicants vetted by a selection committee of more than 100 climate tech and cleantech investors and industry experts. This rigorous screening process provides beneficial feedback to startups that apply. The top 40 companies are invited to present.
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Breakthrough Energy Fellows Cohort 4
Breakthrough Energy Fellows (BEF) flagship program, the Innovator Fellowship, is designed to accelerate the development of promising early-stage climate technologies. The Fellowship is a full-time commitment for innovators committed to commercializing their climate technology. Typically, Innovator projects have raised less than $2,000,000 in dilutive funding and are legally incorporated prior to program start date of September 2024.
The Explorers Fellowship offers funding for developing breakthrough climate solutions that are earlier stage, higher technical risk, and may not yet be ready to incorporate. Explorers’ projects are typically in a university lab or research entity, and are overseen by professors, faculty members, or full-time researchers who can remain in position for this part-time opportunity.
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AlgaePrize 2023-2025
The AlgaePrize 2023-2025 competition is open to teams of two or more students currently enrolled in a U.S.-based high school, community college, college, university, or graduate program. The competition will span two academic years. Students will learn about the algae industry and will go on to support the nation’s biofuel research, algal commercial enhancement, and promote industry-driven education, training, and workforce development. Competitors will prepare creative solutions for real-world issues in the algae value chain. Students will compete to earn prize money and national recognition.
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Atmospheric System Research (ASR)
The DOE SC program in Biological and Environmental Research (BER) hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for Atmospheric System Research (ASR) within BER’s Earth and Environmental Systems Sciences Division (EESSD). ASR supports research on key cloud, aerosol, precipitation, and radiative transfer processes that affect the Earth’s radiative balance and hydrological cycle, especially processes that limit the predictive ability of regional and global models. This FOA solicits research grant applications for observational, data analysis, and/or modeling studies that use observations supported by BER, including the Atmospheric
Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility, to improve understanding and model representation of: 1) Aerosol processes at ARM sites; 2) Convective cloud processes; 3) Aerosol and cloud processes from ARM’s Eastern Pacific Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (EPCAPE); and 4) Mixed-phase cloud and ice cloud processes.
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Installation Noise Reduction and Reliable Moorings for Offshore Wind and Marine Energy
This FOA will further reduce risk and improve environmental compatibility of U.S. offshore wind energy and marine energy deployments. It will do this through research into the integrity and monitoring of mooring lines for floating offshore wind
energy systems and marine energy converters, as well as reducing noise generation and propagation during the installation of fixed-bottom offshore wind foundations.
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Innovative DEsigns for high-performAnce Low-cost HVDC Converters (IDEAL HVDC)
Specifically, this FOA will invest in R&D to support continued innovation and cost reduction for high-voltage direct current (HVDC) voltage-source converter (VSC) transmission systems. This investment is intended to enable future grid upgrades required to integrate increasing renewable energy generation on to the grid, both onshore and offshore.
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Invest TN (Tennessee)
Powered by Launch Tennessee, InvestTN manages two equity capital programs totaling $58M for Tennessee-located early-stage startups: Regional Seed Fund and Technology Fund. Startups at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A or B stages are eligible for an initial investment of $25k to $3M.
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Telluride Venture Network
Telluride Venture Network is creating a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem with services typically unavailable in rural communities.
Launched in 2013, TVN is a nationally recognized, award-winning entrepreneurial ecosystem that supports new, innovative and growing businesses by providing capital funds, mentorship programs, acceleration bootcamps, networking sessions, and project demonstrations.
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