Cohort 2027 CRI innovator solicitation.pdf

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Energy Technology Innovation

Classification Code:

A -- Research & Development

NAICS Code:

541 -- Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services/541712 – Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)

Background

Chain Reaction Innovations was created at Argonne National Laboratory to address the critical national need to accelerate the applied research, development, and deployment of physical science-based technologies (e.g., materials and manufacturing) capable of transforming the nation’s energy systems. Accelerating these technologies from scientific laboratories to opportunities that can potentially be commercialized requires the simultaneous performance of collaborative research and development of technologies and the entrepreneurial development of the innovators working on these technologies.

Chain Reaction Innovations is a United States Department of Energy (DOE) entrepreneurship program that serves as a platform for supporting and mentoring entrepreneurial researchers whose early-stage innovations are presently too challenging or technically uncertain to pursue in a venture capital-financed startup. Chain Reaction Innovations embeds innovators within a national laboratory for up to two years, working with them as they advance their early-stage scientific discoveries to opportunities that can potentially be commercialized within a discrete period, enabling the translation of high-impact materials and manufacturing technologies through entrepreneurial mentorship and cooperative research and development. Innovators are selected into the program through an annual competition, which is the purpose of this solicitation. The Chain Reaction Innovations program intends to provide selected innovators with scientific/technical mentorship and access to unique R&D assets and scientific expertise at Argonne National Laboratory, a DOE national laboratory, to incubate and translate innovations from proof-of-concept to proof-of-product.

Opportunity

Chain Reaction Innovations will help selected innovators in the physical sciences and energy technologies to mature their early-stage innovations. The DOE will provide funding to Argonne to support selected innovators in developing their technology and funding for an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) fellowship to the selected innovators for the first year, with the possibility of renewal, subject to a one-year review, for support up to a total of 2 years through this program. Argonne is presently searching for innovators for its 2027 cohort of

- 2 -the Chain Reaction Innovations program. Benefits to selected innovators may include up to 24 months of Chain Reaction Innovations resources (subject to performance and availability of funding) including the following:

o Personal stipend, travel allowance, and health benefits through ORISE fellowship for up to 24 months;

o Lab space & technical collaboration support from Argonne National Laboratory for up to 24 months; and o Chain Reaction Innovations programming and mentorship.

An innovator’s participation in the program is subject to a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between Argonne and each innovator’s company that may be terminated by either the innovator’s company or the laboratory with sixty-day written notice to the other Party. Innovators will graduate from the CRI program after completion of the CRADA.

Each of the above benefits is contingent upon the availability of funds and personnel, negotiation of a mutually agreeable scope of work, innovator performance, selection by DOE into the program, approval by the DOE for site access to Argonne National Laboratory for the , finals and post-selection, and approval of the CRI CRADA by DOE, including any approvals under DOE O142.3 Unclassified Foreign National Access Program and DOE P 485.1 Foreign Engagements with DOE National Laboratories. At the end of the first year of CRADA work, innovators will be required to participate in a midpoint review to ensure that their performance and progress meet or exceed the minimum criteria to continue in the program for the second year of the CRADA period.

Application Materials

Innovator applicants must submit the following materials:

• Innovator: Provide the back story on you and your project. Where did the idea originate? What is the current status of your technology and team? Why do you want to pursue this effort and what makes you qualified to do so?

• Innovators’ vision: Describe the technology concept you want to pursue. Comment on the potential for impact on U.S. energy and manufacturing competitiveness.

• Why Chain Reaction Innovations: What most attracts you to the Chain Reaction Innovations program? Why would this be the ideal home for you and your project (vs.

alternative paths)? Which people or facilities at Argonne National Laboratory would be particularly valuable in supporting your work?

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• Innovators’ business idea: Briefly describe how you envision making your technology a market reality. Please describe the market you intend to reach, its customers, potential suppliers/distributors/manufacturers, relevant intellectual property (and identification or status of any licenses, per the Eligibility requirements below), barriers to entry, sophistication of market, market incumbents, etc.

• Any Affiliation with Argonne National Laboratory: Please identify whether you or your company have any affiliation with Argonne National Laboratory, its operator UChicago Argonne LLC, or the University of Chicago. If there is no affiliation, please indicate that as well.

• What else? Innovator’s decision on what else they’d like to include.

• Resume: one-page resume for innovator.

• Technical Deck: Please provide a 5-page high-level overview of the technical components of your proposed innovation.

Applicants should submit their application to the CRI team through the online portal found at chainreaction.anl.gov.

Eligibility

To be considered, the applicant must meet each of the following criteria:

• Applicants apply as individuals, not as companies or organizations. However, the CRI program will require a CRADA between Argonne and the selected Innovator’s company

• Technical leads must:

o Possess a minimum of 5 years of technology R&D experience; and o Be either a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident at the time of initial application submission.

• Must have the potential for a broad impact that aligns with DOE’s mission to advance the national, economic, and energy security of the United States.

• Only individuals may apply. Incorporated entities may not apply, though individuals that apply may have incorporated entities.

• Innovators who have raised more than $2M in private-sector equity at the time of application are not eligible to receive support from this program. Employees of Argonne National Laboratory are not eligible to participate in Chain Reaction Innovations as innovators while they are directly employed by Argonne National Laboratory. Innovators

- 4 -may be Argonne employees at the time of application; however, to participate, Argonne employees must take Entrepreneurial Leave or terminate their employment with the Laboratory.

Selection Process and Criteria: Selected applicants will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Project Leader: We are looking for outcome-oriented, entrepreneurial, technical innovators who have the drive and ability to build a foundational technology vision and lead a team in its development. The ideal candidate would exhibit exceptional:

• Technical strength (detailed knowledge, conceptual depth and breadth);

• Outcome orientation (problem-based and system level thinking, risk evaluation, and commercial awareness); and

• Personal excellence (passion and drive, resourcefulness, management & communication skills, personal integrity, team orientation, ability to rapidly learn and adapt).

• Project Concept: While ideas may evolve, we want to ensure that the initial project concept is technically sound, reasonably differentiated, and addresses a well-framed problem with significant long-term impact potential. The ideal project would exhibit exceptional:

• Impact on the U.S. economy (potential for large-scale impact, techno-economic feasibility, credible path to impact with viable entry markets);

• Technical merit (technical feasibility, differentiation, clear risk mitigation plan);

• Business idea (market research, customer/supplier/distributor evaluation, establishment/identification of intellectual property, understanding of the market including barriers to entry, sophistication of market, market incumbents, etc.); and

• Chain Reaction Innovations fit (support would drastically change timeline/probability of success, alignment with lab resources and expertise, ability to work well with or in a national lab and/or research institution).

• Technology Fit: Innovations supported by the CRI program need to fit the program sponsors’ technology mission space. More information can be obtained from the DOE LEEP website (https://www.energy.gov/technologycommercialization/lab-embedded-entrepreneurship-program-otc) and Chain Reaction Innovation (https://chainreaction.anl.gov/apply/)

All applicants for federal funding will be reviewed by Argonne National Laboratory and must be selected by a Federal Official from DOE.

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Nature of the Partnership with Argonne

Selected innovators will contract with the Laboratory through standard non-negotiable Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) approved by the Department of Energy. The work may be divided into two phases, a Scope and Planning Phase (budget period one) followed by a Research and Development (R&D) phase (budget period two).

Scope and Planning Phase:

During the Scope and Planning Phase (typically less than 6 months), the innovator will undertake paper-based analysis such as performing market studies, refining the scope of their research project with Argonne personnel, surveying the intellectual property landscape of their technology, and other activities designed to increase the chance of success in the subsequent Research & Development (R&D) Phase. Innovators are expected to develop an Intellectual Property (IP) Management Plan as part of the Scope and Planning phase (budget period 1), subject to the appropriate DOE Technology Manager’s approval with concurrence from DOE Patent Counsel, before proceeding to the R&D phase (budget period 2). The IP Management Plan should identify and provide a path for obtaining any background IP rights, if necessary, that may be needed to perform R&D work under the CRADA and commercialize their technology. Innovators accepted into the program must obtain a license or option to license, determined on a case-by-case basis, to any background intellectual property no later than one year into the CRADA period, at the time of the year one review. Failure to do so could result in the termination of the innovator’s participation in the program.

In some cases, this phase may be short or not needed at all.

R&D Phase:

Once the Scope and Planning phase has been completed (or if it is not needed), the R&D Phase of the project can proceed (subject to DOE approval).

Please note that as with any other cooperative research and development project conducted with a National Lab, an innovator’s failure to abide by its DOE-approved IP Management Plan could result in delayed work, deferment, or removal from the program. Please note that selected innovators do not receive any rights or preferential access to Argonne background intellectual property or third-party background IP by virtue of selection or participation in this program. If an innovator requires any Argonne background intellectual property, they should reach out to the Argonne’s Science and Technology Partnerships and Outreach office.

Conflict of Interest Statement

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Any work in connection with Chain Reaction Innovations must comply with Argonne’s Prime Contract, as well as applicable policies – including those pertaining to the avoidance of apparent or actual conflicts of interest. Innovators who have an affiliation with Argonne National Laboratory, its operator UChicago Argonne LLC, or the University of Chicago will be subject to an organizational conflict of interest management plan. Please see http://chainreaction.anl.gov/about/faq/ for more information.

Proprietary Application Information – Trade Secrets, Commercial or Financial Information

The application review process for innovators involves independent advisors who are not employees of Argonne National Laboratory or the Department of Energy. Further, the CRI finals and other events are open to the public. As such, no proprietary information should be included in any application. By submitting information to CRI, innovators agree that such information is non-proprietary and not subject to any obligation of disclosure.

Intellectual Property Including Innovations, Inventions, and Patents

Argonne has no claim to any background intellectual property that you bring to the program.

Selected applicants will be granted certain rights in data, copyrights, and patents that innovators create in the course of the program, pursuant to the terms of the CRADA between Argonne and the successful applicants. A copy of the CRADA can be found at:

http://chainreaction.anl.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/68/2016/10/CRI-Short-Form-CRADA- 2016-9-2.pdf.

As a general matter:

Selected applicants may copyright and publish (consistent with appropriate national security considerations, if any) material developed under the CRADA (also subject to a royalty-free license to the government).

Selected applicants may retain the principal worldwide patent rights to any invention the applicants develop under the CRADA, subject to a reserved government use license and other limitations that can be found in the Code of Federal Regulations, 37 CFR 401.

For inventions developed by Argonne under the CRADA, selected applicants will not own the invention but will instead have an option for up to an exclusive license to such Argonne inventions for the term of the CRADA plus six months.

An IP Management Plan is established by participants in this program to establish clear and transparent set of mutual expectations for the management of both the background and subsequently developed intellectual property relevant to the proposed activities.