EPIC 2025
DOE's Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) is thrilled to offer another year of support for small business, incubators, and accelerators via EPIC in 2025. The 2025 program will consist of our highly regarded pitch competitions. All previous EPIC incubator and accelerator awardees will be eligible to nominate an energy technology startup. Startup finalists will be selected to pitch their ideas to a panel of DOE and industry reviewers for the chance to win cash awards at a series of pitch events throughout the year.
As locations and dates are finalized, pitch competition details and nomination information will be communicated to eligible EPIC Prize winners.
The Fall 2025 EPIC Pitch Competition will be held at the co-located 2025 Defense TechConnect and Resilience Week hosted by TechConnect, Nov 19-21 in National Harbor, MD. Finalist competitors have not yet been selected.
The Spring 2025 EPIC Pitch Competition was held at the 2025 Energy Thought Summit in San Antonio, TX from May 19-22, 2025. View the official winners' announcement here.
EPIC PRIZE Round 3
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC), EPIC Round 3 was a $4 million competitive funding program for the nation’s most innovative incubators supporting energy innovation clusters. EPIC Round 3 awarded several cash prizes and five three-year cooperative agreements to regional incubator teams that submit the most creative and impactful plans, then implement those plans to develop strong programming, connections, and support for energy startups and entrepreneurs. The five projects that were awarded 3-year cooperative agreements are now in progress.
Phase 1
In April 2024, OTC announced the Phase 1 winners of the Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Round 3. Twenty-three incubators and accelerators from across the nation were each awarded $150,000 for programs designed to support energy startups and entrepreneurs in their communities. Applicants included traditional business accelerators and incubators, as well as innovative entrepreneurship communities and startup advocacy organizations.
Read the official announcement.
Phase 2
In December 2024, OTC announced the Phase 2 winners of the Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Round 3. Five teams were awarded the opportunity to negotiate an up to $1M 3-year cooperative agreement with DOE.
EPIC Reports
This report describes the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) program progress and implementation. This report builds off the published report to Congress in June 2022, which provided an overview of the EPIC program and plans for implementation. This report provides an update to Congress on the EPIC program, in its third round of awards and fourth year of programming as of FY 2024, including an overview of its program structure, awardees, as well as key performance measures and select outcomes for the program’s first two rounds
During Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, Congress appropriated $5 million and tasked the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) to fund incubators that support energy technology innovation clusters. This in turn led to OTC's development of the Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC). This report presents funding activities, award status and preliminary outcomes for EPIC through 2021.
Latest EPIC News
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Incubators and Accelerators Awarded Over $4.5 Million from DOE to Support Clean Energy Tech StartupsThe U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) announced five Phase 2 winners of the Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Round 3.December 5, 2024
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at the Fall 2024 EPIC Startup Pitch Competition, three startups were named winners by the DOE Office of Technology Transitions after pitching their groundbreaking energy technologies.September 11, 2024
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The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) today announced $70,000 total to three winning clean energy startups and one incubator through the 2024 Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Prize Collaboration Event.May 15, 2024
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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) has named the grand prize winners in the American-Made Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Prize Round 2. Four incubators were each awarded $500,000 in cash prizes.November 1, 2023
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DOE is launching a new version of its successful American-Made EPIC Prize. The $4 million EPIC Round 3 competitive funding program will award cash prizes to the nation’s most innovative incubators supporting energy startups and entrepreneurs.September 26, 2023
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DOE has named the semifinalists in the Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Prize. Twnety-four incubators and accelerators were each awarded $50,000 in cash prizes for their high-impact ideas that support energy start-ups and entrepreneurs.December 6, 2022
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DOE has crowned five winners of the EPIC Prize Pitch Competition, awarding more than $160,000 to those with the highest-potential tech energy innovation.July 18, 2023
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The Office of Technology Transitions is announcing the launch of the American-Made EPIC Prize Round 2, a $4-million competition designed to award prizes to regional incubators that implement high-impact ideas to support energy startups and entrepreneurs.August 2, 2022 -
DOE announces selections for the prize portion of the Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC).October 7, 2020
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OTT announced a $1 million prize to stimulate regional energy innovation ecosystems.July 20, 2020