Turning a new energy or manufacturing technology into a company can take years of research, specialized equipment and substantial investment. For nearly a decade, Innovation Crossroads has given hard-tech entrepreneurs access to resources designed to help overcome those barriers.
As Innovation Crossroads welcomes its 10th cohort and prepares to open applications for the next, four alumni companies illustrate how founders have used the program to advance technologies toward the marketplace. Innovation Crossroads, one of four nodes of the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Commercialization’s Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program, is a fellowship program that embeds startup founders with researchers at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to help translate early-stage technologies into viable commercial ventures. The 2026 Innovation Crossroads cohort is supported by the Office of Technology Commercialization and the Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation, as well as the Tennessee Valley Authority.