Technology Commercialization Fund

The Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) is a competitive laboratory funding opportunity designed to help commercialize promising energy technologies developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE’s) National Laboratories. The TCF is administered by the DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) and is part of a set of initiatives to foster stronger partnerships among DOE facilities, private companies, and other entities that bring energy technologies to the marketplace.

In the Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), funding is awarded to projects focused on bringing solar energy technologies to market. Funded projects address photovoltaics, grid integration, solar-plus-energy storage, and other topics. A full list of projects can be found under the Awardees section below.

Approach

The TCF supports projects in two categories: technology maturation and technology commercialization.

Technology maturation projects will be developed to the point where a business will enter into a cooperative research and development (R&D) agreement or seek to license the technology. They must identify the advances that need to be made to secure a partner. These projects have six to 18 months to achieve their goals and must involve existing DOE facility technology or intellectual property that shows commercial potential. Such projects do not require a private partner.

Technology commercialization projects have one to three years to achieve their goals. Proposed commercialization projects are eligible for consideration without a previous maturation project. These projects must involve existing DOE facility technology or intellectual property, and the facility must have a private partner with an identified commercial application for the technology. Partners may be any non-federal entity, including state and local governments, universities, nonprofits, and businesses.

All projects receive 50% cost share from internal laboratory funding or a commercial partner, are required to report quantitative progress, and must participate in OTT’s TCF program evaluation for up to five years from the award date.

Objectives

The TCF ensures federal R&D investments in technologies with commercial potential find their way to a viable market. Funding helps advance energy technologies to the point where a private partner is willing to assist in commercialization, and funding supports cooperative development of technologies with a private partner for a specific commercial application.

TCF gives SETO, other DOE offices, and National Laboratories the opportunity to pursue a strategic, competitive approach to commercializing technologies developed at the labs. It enables DOE facilities to better prepare these technologies for the market, identify the best prospective industry partners, and help those partners evaluate technologies for their business models.

Awardees

 

Learn more about SETO's other funding programs and National Laboratory Research.