The Energy Department’s Building Technologies Office is partnering with Cleantech Open, a not-for-profit organization that runs the world's largest cleantech accelerator. This year, select participants in DOE’s JUMP program, an online crowdsourcing community for building technologies, will be advanced into Cleantech Open’s Accelerator Program, based on their technical merit and market relevance.

JUMP stands for Join in the discussion, Unveil innovation, Motivate transformation, and Promote technology-to-market. The program seeks to draw on American creativity and technical expertise by broadening the pool of people from whom DOE seeks innovative ideas and to move these ideas to the marketplace faster. Citizens can now submit their ideas to 10 open JUMP “calls for innovation,” with the chance to win an industry-sponsored prize, and to partner with a DOE national laboratory and a leading private sector partner. In addition, with the new Cleantech Open Accelerator Program partnership, select winners will have access to training, mentoring, infrastructure, relationships, and funding opportunities to help them grow into world-class cleantech companies.

“JUMP is bringing more innovators into the mix and giving them a platform for their ideas to succeed where before they might not have had one,” said Karma Sawyer, Technology Analysis & Commercialization manager, and JUMP program manager, at DOE’s Building Technologies Office. “By partnering with Cleantech Open, our JUMP program winners will gain access to an even broader set of resources that will help them turn their brilliant ideas into commercialized products at a faster pace.”

Cleantech Open, the world’s oldest and largest cleantech accelerator, is dedicated to providing entrepreneurs the expertise and connections they need to launch successful cleantech companies. Its mission is to find, fund, and foster the most promising cleantech startups on the planet and accelerate them to market through a structured program of education, networking, and showcasing.

Each year, Cleantech Open supports between 120-150 early-stage cleantech startups in the U.S. Additionally, in partnership with the United Nations, Cleantech Open now supports a growing number of startups outside the United States: 250 in 2016. Over the past 10 years, the Cleantech Open community of 2,000 pro-bono professionals has supported more than 1,200 startups and awarded over $5 million in cash and services. During that time, its 880 alumni companies have raised more than $1 billion in external funding and created over 3,700 jobs.

“We’re delighted to be joining forces with DOE’s JUMP program to connect qualified JUMP program winners to our large and growing community of cleantech commercialization resources,” said Ian Foraker, executive director of the Cleantech Open. “The big environmental, energy and economic issues we face today demand urgent action now. This partnership is yet another step Cleantech Open is taking to increase the number and and quality of early-stage cleantech startups moving toward the marketplace and scaling deployment, where they can make a real difference.”

JUMP launched in December 2015 and has grown to five participating labs including Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Industry partners who are co-hosting the calls for innovation and sponsoring JUMP cash prizes are A.O. Smith, Building Robotics, Clean Energy Trust, CLEAResult, Callida Energy, Emerson Climate Technologies, General Electric, Honeywell, IntelliChoice Energy, and United Technologies Research Center. Working with the labs, industry partners are offering calls for innovation focused on building technologies, including appliances, building envelope, building analytics and information systems, lighting, heating and cooling systems, and building sensors and controls.

JUMP includes opportunities for innovators and citizens to comment and vote on ideas. This community discussion helps DOE and its partners gauge the market’s interest in the topic and potential solutions. A judging panel evaluates top ideas based on their potential for significant energy savings, novelty, and technical, market, and economic feasibility. Innovators get connected to industry partners and may qualify for cash prizes, in-kind technical support, and recognition. Innovators are encouraged to view the JUMP technology challenges and submit their ideas.

This initiative is being funded by DOE's Building Technologies Office.