Accelerating Your Innovation at ORNL
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.
How We Support Our Fellows
Empowering Leaders
- A two-year fellowship, including a personal living stipend, health insurance stipend, and travel allowance
- $150,000 of R&D funding to scale and de-risk your technology
- R&D assistance from ORNL staff scientists and engineers
- Dedicated laboratory and office space
Igniting Innovation
- $2.6 billion annual budget
- 7,000+ employees
- 5,000+ researcher guests annually
- World’s first exascale computer
- 1,132 patents issued (2010–2024)
- 8 national scientific user facilities
- 2,800+ scientific publications in 2024
- 259 R&D 100 Awards
Launching Businesses
- Start-up curriculum: Business model development, financial literacy, investor readiness, and preparation of your pitch
- Accounting and legal advice
- Advisory network of business mentors
- Connections to industry experts, commercial partners, and investors
- A community of peer support
Multi-Faceted Support To Rapidly Advance Your Startup
Innovation Crossroads offers unique multifaceted support tailored to the individual needs of each start-up company. This unique structure, combined with ORNL’s diverse capabilities, provides fellows the opportunity to take their groundbreaking research to market at an accelerated pace and with greater impact .
National lab expertise—ORNL is DOE’s largest science and energy laboratory and home to some of the nation’s most significant user facilities. Because Innovation Crossroads entrepreneurs work within ORNL, they have immediate access to essential tools and resources. This access reduces cost, risk, and R&D time, allowing fellows to focus on creating the next generation of game-changing technologies.
Multidisciplinary collaboration—Innovation Crossroads participants work with ORNL’s renowned scientists and engineers across many disciplines, including biological and environmental sciences, advanced materials, neutron sciences, nuclear science and engineering, and high-performance computing, providing a platform for accelerating innovation.
Business mentoring assistance—Innovation Crossroads has a growing network of partners who offer a unique entrepreneurial and business mentoring experience. The program facilitates connections with industry executives, investors, entrepreneurs, and other experts from academia, government, and finance who can serve as advisors and mentors to help develop priorities, mature skills, provide guidance, and make connections to their broader networks.
Program Sponsors
DOE’s Office of Technology Commercialization
Mission: The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) is dedicated to developing the Department’s policy and vision for expanding the commercial impact of its research investments. We streamline information and access to DOE’s National Labs and sites to foster partnerships that move innovations from the labs into the marketplace. Our office supports the dynamic process of technology transfer, involving numerous and varying handoffs between scientists, innovators, and entrepreneurs, starting from an idea that ultimately becomes a technology commercialized by the private sector.
DOE’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation
Mission: The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation (CMEI) is advancing America’s critical minerals supply chains and accelerating next-generation energy technologies to strengthen our nation’s energy security and power our future.Â
Tennessee Valley Authority
Mission: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) mission is to serve the Tennessee Valley by providing reliable, affordable, and increasingly clean energy, while supporting economic development and environmental stewardship across the region. TVA works to strengthen the Valley’s economy, improve quality of life, and promote energy security by maintaining a diverse power system and investing in innovative energy technologies, infrastructure, and environmental initiatives. Its mission centers on energy, economic development, and environmental stewardship, with a focus on creating long-term value for the communities it serves.
Get Involved
Would you like to be a potential partner, application reviewer, or sponsor? We also welcome program referrals for qualified applicants.
