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
342+
Jobs created
$319.5 million
In follow-on funding
23
Start-ups with sales
$40+ million
In sales revenue
30
Patents granted
Featured News
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Perseus Materials Closes Strategic Investment from Lockheed Martin
Perseus Materials, a venture-backed startup building the world’s fastest large-scale manufacturing system for composite parts, today announced the closure of a strategic investment by Lockheed Martin. Founded in 2022 by Stanford researchers, Perseus will begin expanding its team, fulfill its first customer orders, and grow its physical footprint. “We’re not interested in making marginal improvements
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Innovation Crossroads startup revolutionizes wildfire prevention through grid hardening
Witching Hour, a hard tech startup and member of Cohort 2025 of Innovation Crossroads, is wielding the support of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop technology that reduces wildfire risk by retrofitting powerlines with insulation in fire-prone areas. ORNL is the site of the Powerline Conductor Accelerated Testing Facility, one of the only
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Ateios Systems leverages ORNL tech to strengthen US battery supply chain
Batteries power everything from cellphones to medical devices to defense systems. In 2021, Ateios Systems licensed technology from Oak Ridge National Laboratory to make battery manufacturing faster and cheaper—an innovation that now underpins the nation’s only domestic battery electrode supply chain, strengthening both economic and national security. Ateios Systems has continued to build on ORNL’s initial innovation, establishing
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