Congratulating the 16th Cohort of Energy I-Corps

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) invests billions of dollars every year in the National Laboratory complex, funding groundbreaking research that will power and secure America's clean energy future. The Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) is tasked with maximizing the impact of this work by establishing pathways from the lab to the market to enable private sector uptake of clean energy technologies.  

One of OTT’s longest running programs to accomplish this goal is Energy I-Corps (EIC). At the core of its 3-topic structure, EIC’s Topic 2 hosts an immersive two-month curriculum, which trains National Lab researchers to assess real-world opportunities for their research while building commercialization and entrepreneurial skills. Teams are funded by DOE program offices and semi-autonomous agencies, to support a wide range of Department goals. Since the program’s inception in 2015, over 15 DOE program offices and NNSA have provided funding to this program.  

This May marked the completion of the 16th Energy I-Corps cohort, bringing the total number of graduated teams to 204. The cohort comprised of 13 teams representing Argonne National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratory. To celebrate the successful completion of the program, the Cohort 16 teams gathered in Washington, D.C. to share their work with DOE program offices and meet with leaders on Capitol Hill.  

Graduation from Cohort 16 meant a busy week in Washington, D.C. The teams began by giving capstone presentations to the program instructors and fellow participants, then met with representatives on the Hill. The researchers explained the work they do at the labs and introduced the projects they took through Cohort 16. Energy I-Corps technologies have strong potential not only for the nation’s clean energy transition, but also the local economies.

The National Lab researchers closed the week at DOE headquarters to present their technologies and what they learned about accelerating them to market to their team’s funding DOE program office or Semi-Autonomous Agency. This in-person final meeting provided the teams with a chance for a deep-dive into what they had learned about market opportunities for their technologies and to discuss future commercialization opportunities. Energy I-Corps teams in Cohort 16 were funded by the following 10 DOE program offices and Semi-Autonomous Agency:

• Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO)
• Bioenergy Technology Office (BETO)
• Building Technologies Office (BTO)
• Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO)
• Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER)
• Office of Electricity (OE)
• National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) – Semi-Autonomous Agency
• Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO)
• Vehicles Technologies Office (VTO)
• Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO)

Since its founding, 204 teams from 12 national laboratories have participated in the Energy I-Corps program. Graduates have attracted more than $150 million in post-program funding and executed more than 75 licenses. More than 190 industry mentors have helped teams facilitate more than 14,000 stakeholder discovery interviews with companies such as Shell, Ford, World Bank, John Deere, Siemens Gamesa, Chevron, Samsung, Lowes, LEGO, U.S. Army, Tesla, GM, Whirlpool, GE, Home Depot, Amazon, and many more.