(IDAHO FALLS, Idaho) — The U.S. Department of Energy announced Sept. 24 that the Idaho National Laboratory will lead or support five projects through the department’s Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF).
TCF is a DOE program that bridges the gap between real-world commercial markets and early-stage research at DOE national laboratories, plants and sites. In total, DOE awarded $12 million to six different projects at national laboratories, making INL the largest participant in this latest round of funding.
Of the total awarded funds, INL won $2.95 million to lead two projects, secured $750,000 in cost share funds, and will receive an additional $350,000 from three supporting projects. These projects will generate more than $4 million for INL to support commercialization work. DOE awarded the funds through TCF’s Core Laboratory Infrastructure for Market Readiness Commercialization Enabling Topic Lab Call.
The two projects INL will lead are Enabling Licensable, Market-Enabled National Technologies (ELEMENT) and Transforming Underutilized Research into Billion-dollar Opportunities (TURBO).
“National laboratory research creates tremendous possibilities, but its full value is realized only when those possibilities become practical solutions,” said Jason Stolworthy, INL Technology Deployment director. “INL’s Technology Deployment team applauds the DOE Office of Technology Commercialization for running one of the most impactful commercialization programs in the nation.”
ELEMENT will enable DOE technology transfer offices to transform their research software into web applications that are easier for industry to access and use. ELEMENT was awarded $1.8 million in federal funds, which comes with an additional $400,000 in cost share from commercial partners:
- TEN Capital Network will provide marketplace infrastructure and development, investor engagement, and commercialization support to the software alumni
- Rankin Marketing LLC will lead the development and execution of targeted industry outreach and user acquisition for prospective software participants and software alumni
- INL Foundation, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, will provide software hosting infrastructure and support
- Laboratory supporters include Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories and Oak Ridge National Laboratory
TURBO will provide targeted funding to move promising technologies closer to the marketplace. It is modeled after INL’s pilot Technology Demonstration Program, which showed that small, strategically deployed investments can lead to significant commercial advances. TURBO won $1.13 million and will deploy an additional $350,000 in cash cost share from participating laboratory royalty funds:
- Laboratory supporters Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Savannah River National Laboratory and the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
INL will also support three more TCF projects:
- A Pre-competitive Research Consortium for Multi-Lab Fusion Energy Projects, led by Savannah River National Laboratory
- Research in Residence Program, led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
- E-Lucid Software and Data Storefronts, led by Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Read more about all the awarded projects. See a currently open TCF technology-specific lab call.
NEWS MEDIA CONTACTS:
Sarah Neumann, (208) 520-1651, [email protected]
Lori McNamara, (208) 520-6066, [email protected]
