Geothermal Technologies Office

Reminder: One Month Left to Apply to the Inclusive Energy Innovation Prize

Last year, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity announced the launch of the Inclusive Energy Innovation Prize. The prize will award up to $2.5 million in cash prizes to groups and organizations that support entrepreneurship and innovation in communities historically underserved in climate and energy technology funding.

The prize aims to:

• Support organizations to create or identify activities that provide incubation, acceleration, and community-based entrepreneurship and innovation services in climate and clean energy technologies.
• Identify and fund activities that will help traditionally underrepresented groups apply for and receive DOE funding in support of DOE’s Justice40 goals.
• Build trust and strengthen relationships and partnerships with underrepresented, underserved, and frontline communities or community-serving organizations to understand and lower barriers to entry to DOE funding opportunities.
• Foster grassroots innovation in policy and process related to just and equitable clean energy deployment.
• Support colleges, universities, and other educational institutions that serve large populations of students traditionally underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), including Minority Serving Institutions, tribal colleges, community colleges, and predominantly undergraduate institutions.

DOE welcomes applications from community-centric organizations and educational institutions with experience engaging with and promoting underrepresented and underserved communities. Such organizations will support environmental, climate, and energy justice and use their experience and institutional knowledge to serve as bridges between DOE and innovators. Phase One applications close at 5 p.m. ET on Feb. 25. For more information, visit the prize website.