The DOE Office of Technology Transitions announced 21 selected projects for the spring round of the 2025 Energy I-Corps program. This marks the twentieth round of the Energy I-Corps program.
Office of Technology Transitions
December 18, 2024
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Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) today announced 21 selected projects for the spring round of the 2025 Energy I-Corps program. This marks the twentieth round of the Energy I-Corps Topic 2 Training Cohorts, which delivers commercialization training and funding to researchers at DOE National Labs, plants, and sites. This iteration is supported by 12 DOE program offices and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) with a combined funding total of over $2 million.
"The Energy I-Corps program is a power catalyst for innovation as it provides DOE researchers the opportunities to realize the most effective and efficient path to market for their technologies,” said DOE Chief Commercialization Officer and Director of the OTT, Dr. Vanessa Z. Chan. “The Spring 2025 projects and teams are tackling pressing challenges in energy, and I’m excited about their potential to deliver high-impact results.”
The Energy I-Corps program offers three topics for DOE National Labs, plants, and sites to participate in. These latest selections exemplify the cutting-edge technologies at DOE and the commitment to building the skills and strategies needed to bring these solutions to the private sector:
Topic 1 invites DOE National Laboratories, plants, and sites to propose programming that encourages their researchers to participate in future Energy I-Corps Topic 2 training cohorts. The selected projects will provide entrepreneurial training to more than 150 researchers from three DOE National Laboratories. In addition to entrepreneurial training, this year’s projects include compiling and evaluating commercializable technologies and offering lab researchers mentoring from Energy I-Corps Topic 2 alumni. Learn more about the three selected projects here.
Topic 2 offers an approximately 10-week intensive program for DOE researchers to define technology value propositions, conduct at least 75 stakeholder discovery interviews, and explore viable market pathways for their technologies. Seventeen teams have been selected to participate in this year’s Cohort 20. Learn more about the teams here.
Topic 3 supports the advancement of technologies that researchers took through the Topic 2 training program and that demonstrated a high likelihood of commercialization. The funds are intended to cover costs of the next actionable step in their commercialization journey and to help awardees reach their next source of more substantive funding. OTT selected on Topic 3 project that will go through negotiations toward receiving $100,000. Learn more about the selected project here.
Celebrating Energy I-Corps 2024
Today, OTT unveiled the 2024 Energy I-Corps Annual Report, which highlights the key program improvements made in 2024, the latest impact metrics, and team updates not just from 2024, but from the history of the program. Energy I-Corps alumni continue to make a lasting impact, with several previous participants advancing their technologies through startups, partnerships, and further commercialization efforts. The 2024 report includes four success stories and five team spotlights from Topic 2, highlighting some of these ongoing achievements and efforts. Furthermore, 2024 saw record participation from across the DOE Complex, bringing the total participation to Energy I-Corps program to 100% of all DOE Labs, plants, and sites. Delve into the report here.
About the Department of Energy Office of Technology Transitions
The Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) plays a pivotal role in expanding the public impact of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) portfolio. Founded in 2015, OTT aids in developing and overseeing the delivery of DOE's strategic vision and goals for technology commercialization and business and industrial sector engagement across the nation. Visit us at energy.gov/ott to learn more, and subscribe to receive our latest opportunities and accomplishments via email. Follow us on X and LinkedIn.
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