A More Powerful Program for Transformational Ideas in Energy and Science

Chain Reaction Innovations, now in its seventh year, understands that developing a great idea into a technology that impacts the market remains challenging. Doing so with an clean energy- or science-based technology can seem nearly impossible. Complex technical challenges, long development cycles, expensive lab equipment, and impatient investors create high hurdles for even the most determined innovators to overcome.

It leaves innovators feeling isolated. But they don’t have to be.

Chain Reaction Innovations (CRI) is a two-year fellowship program at Argonne National Laboratory for innovators focused on clean energy and science technologies. Through an annual call, four to six individuals/teams are selected to join CRI. It is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP), one of four ‘nodes’. The others are located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

See what Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said about LEEP.

About CRI

The goal of CRI is to give the nation’s brightest energy and science innovators the best chance at success. The future depends on it. Our mission is to open Argonne’s door to deliver on our promise of a sustainable, prosperous, and equitable world—one innovator, one startup at a time.

By 2050, the world’s population will grow by 33 percent, much of it an emerging middle class that will contribute to energy demand that is five times greater than that of today. At the same time, leading scientists say we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent to mitigate climate change. The only way to accomplish both is to develop revolutionary new technologies.

These technologies will create a more sustainable future and help answer the grand challenge facing us–climate change.

The opportunities are immense. And with CRI, those opportunities are now within reach.

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Note: program applicants must be U.S. citizens or lawful permanent U.S. residents at the time of application.