Department of Energy

DOE is the third largest federal agency participating in SBIR/STTR with over 300 million budget each year. DOE supports R&D in three broad research areas:

Clean Energy: fossil, nuclear, and renewable energy, including energy production and use in buildings, vehicles, and industry and electricity delivery and reliability of the Nation’s electricity grid.

Basic Science and Engineering: fundamental energy sciences, including materials, life, environmental, and computational sciences, and fusion energy, high energy and nuclear physics.

Nuclear Security: environmental management and nuclear nonproliferation.

Funding Opportunities

DOE offers more than sixty technical topics and 250 subtopics annually, spanning research areas that support the DOE mission in:

  • Energy Production & Use
  • Fundamental Energy Science
  • Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
  • Environmental Management

Funding Opportunity Announcement

Each year the DOE SBIR/STTR Programs Office issues two Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) inviting small businesses to apply for its Phase I SBIR and STTR grants.

FY25 Research Topics
Release 1

FY25 topics have been released on July 8, 2024

Interview with Eileen Chant, Outreach Program Manager

Eileen Chant, DOE Outreach Program Manager

Eileen Chant joined the DOE as the Outreach Program Manager at the Office of SBIR/STTR Programs in 2020. Eileen is a Mechanical Engineer with over 25 years of experience. Her engineering experience encompasses diverse energy technologies including novel cooling and dehumidification processes, fossil and nuclear power, pressure vessel technology and hydrogen storage. She also has over a decade of experience aiding startup companies with technology evaluation and grant writing. Eileen has extensive experience in Knowledge Management and as a Director with non-profit engineering and other volunteer associations.  She received her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Program Offices

DOE SBIR/STTR topics are drawn from the mission areas of the 13 participating programs, 6 offices from the Office of Science Programs, and 7 offices from Applied Programs.

Past Awardees

Look at past awardees to know what research topics were of interest to DOE. It is also a great way to locate potential partners.

Small Business Development Centers

Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) play a crucial role in supporting small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs. They usually provide free business consulting, training, access to resources, economic impact analysis, and local support.

DOE National Labs

The DOE National Labs address large scale, complex research and development challenges with a multidisciplinary approach that places an emphasis on translating basic science to innovation.

Clean Energy Business Network

The Clean Energy Business Network (CEBN) is the small business voice of the clean energy economy, working to enhance opportunities for clean energy providers through policy support, market and technology information, and business development.

Fostering Diverse Participation

DEI is one cornerstone to effectively advancing the U.S. research and scientific innovation enterprise. Effective stewardship and promotion of diverse and inclusive research environments and workplaces that value and celebrate a diversity of people, ideas, cultures, and educational backgrounds is foundational to delivering on the Office of Science’s mission.

DOE SBIR Partnering Platform

This public, self-supporting platform, which is free to use, facilitates partnering between DOE small business applicants and awardees (INNOVATORS) and various industry stakeholders (investors, service providers, utilities, etc.) in their representative ecosystems (PARTNERS). 

Required Registrations

Login.gov

Login.gov is a secure sign-in service the public uses to sign in to participating government agency websites. You use the same username and password to access any agency that partners with Login.gov. Participating agencies use Login.gov to help protect their users through a two-factor authentication process. When you try to sign into a participating agency’s website, you will be prompted to sign in or create an account with Login.gov before you can access your profile with that agency.

DOE Portfolio Analysis and Management SystemThis portal is used for Letter of Intent (LOI) submission.

System for Award ManagementThis portal is used to register, update, renew, or check the status of entity registration.

Small Business AdministrationThis portal is used to register your business to make it a distinct legal entity. How and where you need to register depends on your business structure and business location.

Grants.govThis portal is used for full proposal submission.