Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and engineers have posted another banner year securing major grants through the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF).
“I think the Laboratory did very well again, reflecting a variety of types and approaches to our research and development projects,” said Rich Rankin, the director of the Lab’s Innovation and Partnerships Office (IPO). “Our larger grants significantly increase our odds of getting these technologies into the commercial stream. And our smaller projects give us the chance to mature the technologies and better explore their value."
This year’s projects reflect a broad diversity of technology areas, including energy storage, energy recovery, diagnostics for metal additive manufacturing, high-efficiency carbon dioxide absorption and a light field directing array, which provides the ability to steer light with unprecedented speed and precision.
Under this year’s TCF program, LLNL researchers will receive about $8.28 million, with $3.13 million from DOE and $5.15 million in matching funds from the Lab’s IPO and industrial partners.
Under the TCF program, DOE national lab scientists and engineers can apply for two types of grants. The first (topic 1) is focused on early-stage technologies and, in fiscal year 2021, provided between $100,000 and $250,000 for work to be carried out over 6-18 months.
The second (topic 2) grant award provides funds from $250,000 to $1.5 million for 12-36 months of work. Although both award types encourage collaborative work with industry partners, support from an industry partner is necessary for topic 2 grants. Both award types are required to provide a 50 percent cost share, either cash or in-kind from non-federal sources.
In the grant award announced by DOE earlier this summer, LLNL secured three topic 1 awards and two topic 2 awards that include collaborations with three different industry partners. The money is provided through the DOE Office of Technology Transitions.
“The TCF effort is an excellent DOE program and our technology transfer efforts have really benefited from it. The commercial availability of these technologies also benefits our LLNL programs,” Rankin said.