Stakeholders from industry, academia, and the national labs can partner with the Energy Material Network’s (EMN) consortia through several mechanisms. These mechanisms are intended to be streamlined via short-form agreements that can often be executed in less than one month.

Strategic Partnership Projects (SPPs)

In an SPP, an EMN consortium will assist stakeholders in identifying the appropriate national laboratory resources to address a particular challenge, and the stakeholder will pay the full cost of using those resources. This mechanism is well suited for work on highly proprietary, commercial, or otherwise near-term R&D where DOE funding is not appropriate but national lab resources can provide substantial value to the stakeholder.

Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs)

In an EMN CRADA, DOE may fund access to national lab resources up to the full cost of those resources, provided that the resulting research is made publicly available. The stakeholder may be required to provide cost share as part of a CRADA if research accomplishments are not made publicly available. This mechanism is suitable for pre-competitive and pre-commercial work, and is subject to the availability of funds.

Agreements for Commercializing Technology (ACTs)

Some EMN consortia offer ACTs, which are similar to CRADAs but introduce flexibility in the time frame of advanced payment and the liability of the national labs; both of these terms can be negotiated between the user and the managing contractor of the lab. 

Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs)

DOE's FOAs may provide stakeholders access to EMN consortia. Each specific FOA will provide details on the requirements for obtaining funding.  Please visit the EERE Funding Opportunity Information site or the individual consortium websites to keep up to date on current funding opportunities.

Some recent funding opportunity announcements:

Consortium Topic Funding Opportunity Deadline
HydroGEN; ElectroCat  DE-FOA-0002922: Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: Clean Hydrogen Electrolysis, Manufacturing, and Recycling Concept Paper Submission Deadline: 4/19/2023 5:00 PM ET

Full Application Submission Deadline: 7/19/2023 5:00 PM ET
HydroGEN DE-FOA-0002792: Funding Opportunity in Support of the Hydrogen Shot and a University Research Consortium on Grid Resilience; Area of Interest 1: Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies in Support of Hydrogen Shot

Concept Paper Submission Deadline: 9/23/2022 5:00 PM ET

Full Application Submission Deadline: 12/1/2022 5:00 PM ET

This table was last updated on March 22, 2023. Please visit the EERE Funding Opportunity Information site for updates.