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Release Date: March 18, 1994
Media Contact: Media & External Communications, (509) 375-3776
DOE SEEKS INNOVATIVE METHODS TO IMPROVE INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES
RICHLAND, Washington -- For industry, finding "new and improved" methods of operation often can mean a better financial bottom line. Now, for innovators with ideas to help industry, it can be a moneymaking experience as well.
Through its Pacific Northwest Laboratory and the Innovative Concepts Program, the U.S. Department of Energy is soliciting innovative ideas for improving industrial processes. Innovators whose concepts are selected will receive approximately $22,000 to conduct preliminary technical and market evaluations of their concepts. The concepts will be presented to potential investors and collaborators at a technology fair in May 1995.
Broad categories for ideas being solicited include, but are not restricted to concepts that
- increase industrial output
- improve health conditions or the safety of industrial operations
- increase the useful life of plant and equipment
- develop sensors and controls for difficult environments
- have a dual-use application to both defense and commercial industrial needs
- address environmental issues in industrial operations
- can improve the overall energy efficiency of industrial processes and/or industry-related transportation requirements.
Proposal information will be available April 1, 1994, and proposals are due June 1, 1994. To receive information on submitting a proposal, request a solicitation package from Lisa Barnett, U.S. Department of Energy, Seattle Support Office, 800 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3950, Seattle, Washington, 98104; fax (206) 553-2200.
The program also provides non-financial benefits to those selected for preliminary funding including
- the opportunity to present their concepts to potential industrial and government sponsors at the technology fair
- a commercialization planning workshop that will help them make the most out of their contacts at the fair
- the development of a one-page informational sheet for distribution to potential sponsors
- eligibility for evaluation by the Energy Related Inventions Program for further funding.
Of the 75 past Innovative Concepts Program grant recipients, more than half have received substantial follow-on funding from other government programs or industrial sponsors.
The Pacific Northwest Laboratory at Richland and Sequim, Washington, is a national multiprogram laboratory operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by Battelle Memorial Institute. Battelle is an international technology organization that serves industry and government by developing, commercializing and managing technology.
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