158 Grants Will Support Innovation and Job Creation

WASHINGTON D.C. – Today, U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette announced that the Department of Energy (DOE) will award 158 grants totaling $32 million to 118 small businesses in 32 states. 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 Office of Science. 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 2021 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 Advanced Scientific Computing Ultra-bright Quantum Light Source Using Entangled Two-Mode State An Accessible High-Performance Application for Nanophotonics Design and Optimization A Unified Profiling Infrastructure and Tool for Extreme-scale Deep Learning

Office of Basic Energy Sciences Low Cost Air Separation Via Magnetic Microchannel Arrays Nanoionics Proton Conducting Electrolyte Novel ionomer and polymer-electrolyte membrane development for solar-energy-driven carbon dioxide conversion Perfectly-absorbing photoconductive metasurfaces for high efficiency ultrafast optoelectronic switches

Office of Biological and Environmental Research Multiarray Sensors for Real Time Detection of Microbial Metabolites in Watersheds and Sub-surface Systems A New Digital Holographic Microscope for the Study of Biological Systems Low Cost Shortwave Spectroradiometer for Retrieval of Cloud Properties

Office of Nuclear Physics Use of the Magnetic Isotope Effect for Silicon Isotopomer Chemical Separations A novel approach to production of highly spin polarized electrons from III-V semiconductor/half-metal hybrid multilayers Novel Proton Alignment Aid for Isotope Production



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 HERE.

More information about the projects announced today is available HERE.

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