Congratulating the 18th Cohort of Energy I-Corps

This May marked the completion of the 18th Energy I-Corps cohort, bringing the total number of graduated teams to 226.  Energy I-Corps, now in its ninth year, hosts a suite of efforts for National Laboratory researchers to meaningfully apply commercialization and entrepreneurial skills to DOE technologies.

At the core of its 3-topic structure is Energy I-Corps’ Topic 2 Training Cohort, an entrepreneurial bootcamp that provides an immersive two-month curriculum training for DOE National Lab, plant, and site researchers to assess viable pathways to bring their DOE technology to the market. 

Cohort 18 comprised of 14 teams from the 10 National Labs listed below. An additional three teams from the DOE Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP) also participated in this cohort. Teams represented technologies ranging from carbon capture to wind turbine blade protection to wearable biosensors. 

• Argonne National Laboratory 
• Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory 
• Idaho National Laboratory 
• Los Alamos National Laboratory 
• National Energy Technology Laboratory 
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory 
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory 
• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 
• Sandia National Laboratories 
• Savannah River National Laboratory

Cohort 18 was supported by 11 DOE program offices and the National Nuclear Security Administration: 

• Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office
• Bioenergy Technologies Office 
• Geothermal Technologies Office
• Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office
• Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management
• Office of Science Advanced Scientific Computing Research
• Office of Science Basic Energy Sciences Program
• OTT
• Vehicles Technology Office 
• Water Power Technologies Office
• Wind Energy Technologies Office.

"Congratulations Cohort 18 for outstanding performance throughout this intensive and rewarding program," said Dr. Vanessa Z. Chan, Chief Commercialization Officer Director of OTT. "I look forward to seeing how these graduates use their newfound commercialization skills at our National Laboratories to successfully drive new technologies to market."

Over the course of ten weeks, teams collectively conducted 1,227 interviews with potential customers and other stakeholders in their ecosystem. Cohort 18 conducted the most interviews per team (88) in the history of the nine-year program.  The process validated some technologies— several graduates are hoping to form startups that bring their innovations to market, leveraging newly acquired entrepreneurial skills to drive economic growth.

Others graduated from the program with a whole new direction. One team discovered their technology was not ready for market by working through OTT’s Adoption Readiness Level framework, a new method of comprehensive benchmarking for commercialization. They now plan to embrace this benchmark to assess future projects back at their lab. In this way, Energy I-Corps helps ensure that DOE is not funding National Lab research the private sector does not want or need.

To mark the successful completion of the program, Cohort 18 teams gathered in Washington, D.C. The researchers began with capstone presentations to their peers, instructors, and DOE stakeholders including Dr. Chan and representatives from program offices, the Small Business Innovation Research program, and National Labs. These presentations showcased the impact of the discovery interview process on their technology’s path to commercialization. 

The graduates also visited DOE’s headquarters to present their findings and insights directly to their respective funding offices. This activity spotlights their ability to communicate complex scientific and market topics through digestible presentations. It also provides DOE leadership with valuable market insight the teams collected from their stakeholder interviews. The week also included a networking event with DOE’s Technology Transfer Working Group, leaders from across the National Laboratory system charged with improving the Department’s commercialization activities.

Cohort 18 joins an elite group of Energy I-Corps graduates. Since 2015, the group has attracted more than $177 million in post-program funding, launched more than 20 new businesses based on their technologies, and executed 78 licenses. These achievements stand as a testament to the program’s effectiveness in driving innovation, fostering entrepreneurship, and accelerating the transition to a clean energy future.

We applaud the dedication of Cohort 18 and look forward to witnessing the continued impact of Energy I-Corps as it empowers the next generation of clean energy leaders.