May 21, 2019 - U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry today announced that the Department of Energy will award 231 grants totaling $46 million to 202 small businesses in 39 states and the District of Columbia.  Funded through DOE’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, today’s selections are for Phase I research and development.  

The Phase I grants will allow small businesses to research technical feasibility of new innovations that advance the mission of the Department.  Phase I grants are 6-12 months in duration with a median award amount of $200,000.  Successful Phase I grantees will be eligible to apply for Phase II awards in fiscal year 2020 that will allow them to develop novel prototypes or processes to validate their Phase I research findings. Phase II grants have a median award amount of $1,100,000 and a duration up to 2 years.        

Highlighted below are selected grants for each of the research and development programs that provided funding for these projects:

Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response

Physical layer Authentication of Wired Networks

Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation

Compact Ion Cyclotron for Nuclear Security Applications

Office of Electricity

Blockchain Protected Security Fabric for Infrastructure Protection

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Electrospray Deposition of Perovskite Solar Cells

Office of Environmental Management

Flaw Sizing Techniques for GWPA Inspection of DST Primary Liner Floors

Office of Fossil Energy

CO2 to Carbon and Water via Plasma Catalysis

Office of Fusion Energy Sciences

Amplifiers for High Repetition Rate Diode-Pumped Ultra-Intense Femtosecond Lasers

Office of High Energy Physics

Optimization of Additive Manufacturing Technique for 3D Superconducting Multi-Qubit Systems

Office of Nuclear Energy

Development of a Small Electromagnetic Pump for Molten Salt Reactors  

Small businesses play a major role in spurring innovation and creating jobs in the U.S. economy.  The SBIR and STTR programs were created by Congress to leverage small businesses to advance innovation at federal agencies. Additional information on the DOE SBIR and STTR programs is available at the SBIR/STTR Programs Office: https://science.osti.gov/sbir.

More information about the projects announced today is available at the following link: https://science.osti.gov/sbir/Awards.