Department of Energy Announces $80 Million for Research to Accelerate Innovations in Emerging Technologies

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $80 million, provided by the Office of Science, to support fundamental research to drive the innovation cycle in support of the Accelerate Innovations in Emerging Technologies (Accelerate) initiative. 

“The Accelerate initiative will drive scientific discovery across the innovation continuum to support the future economic and scientific leadership of the nation,” said Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, DOE’s Director of the Office of Science. “A priority of the Biden Administration is accelerating the transition of basic research to commercial, impact-providing solutions to the American people.”

Accelerate seeks to integrate novel concepts and approaches into fundamental research that could accelerate the innovation process, greatly reducing the time from discovery to product, which can take years to decades. Accelerating the innovation cycle requires identification of key gaps that need to be overcome at the early stages of basic research so these innovations can enter the marketplace faster. Addressing these gaps will require teams of researchers employing the latest technologies, such as high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, manufacturing, materials, and biotechnology. Incorporation of other approaches to accelerate the innovation cycle will also be important, such as training a diverse, next-generation workforce, catalyzing spin-off companies, supporting entrepreneurs, obtaining input and feedback from industry, and leveraging and building regional expertise and resources, while being consistent with principles of environmental justice.    

Applications are open to the DOE national laboratories. Partnerships with other institutions, including academia, other national laboratories, not-for-profit organizations, or industry, are strongly encouraged, especially partnerships with emerging research institutions, including Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). 

Total combined planned funding is up to $80 million over two years, with outyear funding contingent on congressional appropriations. The funding anticipated for each award is $2M to $4M per year.   

A webinar on this opportunity will be held on February 27^th at 2 p.m. EST. Please register here. 

The program announcement, sponsored by the Office of Science, can be found here.