Empowering Aspiring Hard-Tech Entrepreneurs
Starting new energy-related technology companies can be challenging, and that’s one reason the number of energy start-ups has declined significantly over the past decade. Innovation Crossroads, a Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program, is supported by the US Department of Energy—including the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office, Building Technologies Office, Office of Electricity, and Office of Science’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research program and Basic Energy Sciences program—and by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The program leverages Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL’s) unique scientific resources and capabilities and connects the nation’s top innovators with experts, mentors, and networks in technology-related fields to take world-changing ideas from R&D to the marketplace.
Innovation Crossroads is a two-year fellowship program that focuses on energy and advanced manufacturing technologies. Through an annual national call and competitive stage-gate process, top entrepreneurial-minded fellows are selected to join the program. Selected innovators receive a fellowship that includes a personal living stipend, a health insurance stipend, a travel allowance, a substantial grant to use on collaborative R&D at ORNL, and comprehensive mentoring assistance to build a sustainable business model.
By embedding the next generation of top technical talent within ORNL, Innovation Crossroads positions entrepreneurial researcher fellows to address fundamental energy and manufacturing challenges identified by industry.
Program Impacts
51
Start-ups supported
323
Jobs created
$307.4 million
In follow-on funding
22
Start-ups with sales
$34 million
In sales revenue
29
Patents granted
Featured News
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Energy Department Seeks Energy and Manufacturing Innovators for 2026 Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program Cohort
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the opening of application portals for the Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP) 2026 Cohort, a two-year, funded fellowship that supports the next generation of energy entrepreneurs. Selected fellows will work to advance technologies that make energy more affordable, bolster national security, and give American manufacturers a competitive edge in
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The Spark Is Real | Community Welcomes 12 Clean-Tech Energy Companies to Knoxville
The community welcomed 12 new companies to Knoxville for the Innovation Crossroads program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Spark Cleantech Accelerator at the UT Research Park. The ground level of the Institute for Advanced Materials & Manufacturing at the University of Tennessee Research Park was packed to the brim on Wednesday morning for a sold-out
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SkyNano Awarded $1.6M DOE Phase II Contract to Scale Carbon Nanotube Production
SkyNano, a sustainable domestic producer of advanced carbon products, is excited to present that we have been granted a $1.6M Award from the Department of Energy. Starting in late 2024 when this was first awarded, we have worked diligently to make substantial progress on this project. This award builds on our successful Phase I results
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