ARPA-E Issued a $150 Million Open Funding Opportunity on March 2, 2012

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) recently announced an Open Funding Opportunity Announcement.  ARPA-E is seeking high-risk, high-reward concepts for energy-related technologies to enhance our nation’s energy and economic security. Who Should Apply? Start-up companies with potentially transformational or disruptive energy technologies in any sector should consider applying for this award.  ARPA-E awards advance a variety of venture goals, from recognition to investment, and can be very useful to gain traction for a new technology. What Is the Process? The first step for interested applicants is to submit a Notice of Intent for each technology through the ARPA-E eXCHANGE.  The Notice of Intent must contain a short abstract and basic information about the technology and proposed project, including project title, lead organization, organization type, percentage of work performed by the lead organization, Principal Investigator and Key Participants, and Technical Subcategory or Subcategories.  A 3-page Concept Paper will be due less than two weeks later.  Then, if approved, the team will prepare a more complete Full Application. What Are Key Considerations? Awards are intended to enable actual delivery of project goals rather than merely progress towards attainment, so the project must be sufficiently advanced and well-defined.  ARPA-E has typically awarded teams that have partnered with universities, national labs and significant strategic partners, so this route is strongly recommended for applicants. Applicants should also be aware of the funding match requirement for ARPA-E awards, which for for-profit entities requires at least 20% of the total award to be borne by the company (can be through outside funding) – assurances will need to be made with the full application (stage 3). Decisions will be made by December 2012 and funding is anticipated to begin January 1, 2013; anticipated rewards are between $250k and $10 million per awardee ($2 million on average). Apply for the ARPA-E funding opportunity here. Deadline for submission of the Notice of Intent is Friday, March 30, 2012 at 5 pm. This post was authored by Founders Workbench.