Washington, DC - Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the fourth cohort of Cyclotron Road, a DOE Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program created to provide an institutional home for innovative postdoctoral researchers to build their research into products and train to be entrepreneurs. Cyclotron Road, based at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, selected thirteen fellows with a diversity of experience and expertise from more than 175 innovators from around the world.
The DOE Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Programs take top entrepreneurial scientists and engineers and embed them within U.S. National Laboratories to perform early-stage research and development (R&D) that may lead to the launch of energy or manufacturing businesses in the future.
These fellows will spend the next two years advancing their technology innovations from promising concepts to first products. In addition to technological access and support, the program trains innovators to develop entrepreneurial acumen and skills, while introducing them to the ecosystem partners needed to facilitate commercial and investment opportunities.
Technology innovation through early-stage R&D in manufacturing and energy is the foundation for economic growth and national job creation. The projects that Cohort 4 fellows are pursuing hold tremendous promise to address urgent needs in a number of industrial sectors.
Meet the newest innovators and the technology they look to advance.
Erkan Aktakka
ActiveMEMS
ActiveMEMS is developing a microfabrication technology that integrates high-quality piezoelectric materials into micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) for high-performance transducers, such as energy-harvesters for machine health monitoring networks.
Justin Briggs & Andrew Ponec
Antora Energy
Antora Energy is building a grid-scale energy storage system that uses thermophotovoltaic energy converters to generate power from heat stored in inexpensive thermal materials.
Jill Fuss & Steve Yannone
Cinder Biological (CinderBio)
CinderBio harnesses the power of enzymes that can withstand very high temperature and acidic environments for industrial applications.
Tim Latimer & Jack Norbeck
Fervo Energy
Fervo Energy is developing cost-effective, clean energy from geothermal resources using novel drilling techniques based on research of mixed-mechanism stimulation.
Miguel Sierra Aznar
Noble Thermodynamic Systems
Noble Thermodynamic Systems has developed a closed-loop internal combustion engine cycle that uses a monatomic gas and gas separation unit to efficiently deliver emission-free electricity from natural gas or stored hydrogen.
Christopher Graves
Noon
Noon Energy is pioneering a new class of flow battery technology that enables economical long-duration energy storage, designed to enable intermittent renewable electricity sources such as solar and wind to meet continual demand.
Dominic Labanowski & Nishita Deka
Sonera Magnetics
Sonera Magentics is developing a portable, room-temperature magnetometer with performance comparable to the best magnetic sensors available today. This will enable a range of applications, from medicine to defense to brain-computer interfaces.
Kevin Kung
Takachar
Takachar is developing small-scale, low-cost, and portable equipment that can turn agricultural and forestry wastes into fuels or chemicals, using a process called torrefaction.
Alexei Marchenkov
Bleximo
Bleximo is building first-generation quantum computing systems to address real-world needs, such as simulating the electronic and chemical properties of new materials and drug molecules that are often too complex for conventional computers.
Learn more about Cyclotron Road and its newest innovators here.
Cyclotron Road is one of three Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Programs funded by EERE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office. EERE's Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) supports early-stage research to advance innovation in U.S. manufacturing and promote American economic growth and energy security.
