When we needed a better way to haul goods, we invented the wheel. When we required a new way to disseminate information, we invented the printing press. When we wanted to get places faster, we invented the airplane. Â
Necessity is the mother of invention, and human ingenuity has solved plenty of the world’s most challenging issues. But how will we address the pressing need for solutions to the toughest challenge of all—the climate crisis?
The American-Made program, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, is relying on a centuries-old method for spurring innovation—prizes.
A Short Take on the Long History of Prizes
The first recorded use of a government-sponsored prize was the 1714 Longitude Act. The British Parliament issued a reward to incentivize development of a method to accurately determine longitude on ships. The winner was an unknown carpenter and self-taught clockmaker, John Harrison.
The French caught on and launched a prize in 1795 under Napoleon, awarding pastry chef Nicolas Appert for his solution to large-scale food preservation—a new method for heating, boiling, and sealing food in airtight glass jars. The precursor to the modern canning process was born.
The nimble and responsive nature of prizes makes them useful for a broad range of applications, a major reason why DOE chose the American-Made Challenges as a vehicle for spurring innovation in clean energy. Now, DOE technology offices identify a need for innovation in a specific area of clean energy, and within a few months, a prize designed to solve that need is ready to roll out.
As an alternative to traditional cycles of federal funding that nurture new ideas and technologies, cleantech innovators and energy changemakers can compete in this collection of prizes to speed up the entrepreneurial process from years to months, potentially winning cash awards and other incentives along the way.
Prizes offer a unique opportunity for DOE funds to be awarded quickly to entrepreneurs and entities working on new technology development; bringing clean technologies to underserved communities; creating programming to support clean energy innovation; and incentivizing innovation in manufacturing processes. Moreover, they can also access a network of experts and resources to make their ideas a reality faster—a critical tool within the prize paradigm.
American-Made: A New Approach to Supporting Innovation
DOE tested this competition structure in 2018 with the launch of the American-Made Solar Prize (nearing its seventh round). The three-phase, multimillion-dollar prize set out to accelerate efforts to identify, develop, and test disruptive solutions that could boost solar manufacturing in the United States.
As with many American-Made Challenges, the Solar Prize is divided into phases that each last a few months and have ambitious targets that force successful competitors to make quick and substantial progress. The milestones at each phase are designed to maintain momentum, and the funding awarded at each phase is sized to the level of effort and expected results.
“The American-Made Solar Prize helped us accelerate our time to launch from three years to a little over a year and a half.”
-Solar Prize Round 5 Team
Of note is that the submissions to early rounds of the Solar Prize didn’t just come from people already in the traditional solar industry; they came from artists, homeowners, maintenance technicians, and people from other walks of life that all had one thing in common: they saw gaps in the solar space and offered up creative, untapped solutions.
Caption: The concept of etching designs onto solar panels—making them into something aesthetically pleasing for parks, gardens, homes, and buildings—was the brainchild of Solar Prize Round 2 finalist Adam Winsor. Photo from Adam Winsor
Companies looking to expand their business into new clean energy-related fields are another key prize audience. Innovators in the robotics field, for example, were encouraged to apply for the Envelope Retrofit Opportunities for Building Optimization Technologies (E-ROBOT) Prize, in which they were challenged to develop tools that could identify ways to make existing buildings more energy efficient.
Similarly, the Geothermal Manufacturing Prize attracted innovators who were in the process of developing tools for the oil and gas industry. The prize was designed to tackle some of the challenges of the budding geothermal industry, which requires specific tools that can handle high heat, drill through hard rock, and withstand corrosive fluids. Competitors leveraged their knowledge of oil and gas tools—and the benefits of additive manufacturing—to create unique 3D-printed pieces that met the challenge.
Caption: Winners of the Geothermal Manufacturing Prize won $500,000 for their innovative tool that can monitor temperature, pressure, and other factors in the extreme heat of a geothermal well. Photo from Dreampilot Films
“Without this challenge, this technology wouldn’t exist.”
-Geothermal Manufacturing Prize Winner
The Proliferation of the Prize Ecosystem
More recently, technology-agnostic prizes have been used to incentivize change in communities. Government-led programs such as the Justice40 Initiative and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act have made it a priority for DOE to direct clean energy funding to disadvantaged and rural and remote communities—communities that have experienced a disproportionate amount of the negative impacts of climate change, and have historically received significantly less funding from DOE to support their clean energy transitions.
As a result, prizes now target ever-widening audiences. School districts, for example, were just invited to apply for funding to update their schools’ health and energy efficiency standards through the Energy CLASS Prize. The Energizing Rural Communities Prize sought out finance experts to develop innovative business models to execute clean energy projects in rural and remote communities. And challenges like the Inclusive Energy Innovation Prize and the Community Clean Energy Coalition Prize are focused on empowering and awarding organizations who are on the ground engaging with underserved communities to ensure an equitable clean energy transition. These and other prizes that are focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are making up an ever-growing share of the prize collection, as the program ensures that the benefits of innovation are open to all.
Caption: Inclusive Energy Innovation Prize competitors met with renewable energy experts and energy justice advocates in November 2022 to share ideas and plans for building an equitable renewable energy infrastructure. Photo by Taylor Mankle, NREL
Ensuring Post-Prize Success
The ultimate goal of many prizes is to encourage teams to move their innovations into the market, or to sustain the community programs developed during their prize. This forward momentum is often made possible through the support of the American-Made Network. The Network has steadily grown to more than 400 organizations—including accelerators, incubators, universities, facilities, and industry partners—who provide prize competitors with direct support around things like business model design, customer discovery connections, support on investor pitches, and access to prototyping and manufacturing facilities.
As a result of the prize—and the support they received through the American-Made Network—one of the winners of the E-ROBOT Prize successfully expanded their business offerings, originally just commercial-grade robotic vacuum cleaners, to include a product that maps, inspects, and remediates leaking air ducts. The winners of the Geothermal Manufacturing Prize are taking their innovations into the field for testing and, hopefully, purchase by corporations working in the geothermal industry. And many Solar Prize alumni already have paying customers for their prize-inspired technologies—from durable solar roofing to beautifully designed architectural solar panels to recycled steel solar panel frames.
Inspiring the Future of InnovationÂ
While the American-Made prize program has already inspired many successes, there is still much work to be done, and innovators will always be needed to help meet the world’s most pressing challenges.
Applications are open now for a variety of prizes, including ones that cover better direct air capture of carbon; expansion of clean energy education in historically Black colleges and universities; community solar projects that promote equitable access; and so much more. Â
Learn more about joining the American-Made innovation engine by applying for a prize, becoming a Network member, or subscribing to the American-Made Newsletter for updates on future opportunities.