Five small companies have been selected to partner with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to move technologies in commercial refrigeration systems, water power generation, bioenergy, and battery manufacturing closer to the marketplace.

The firms are among 38 selected to participate in the third round of DOE’s Small Business Vouchers, or SBV, pilot, a press release said. SBV helps provide access to the world-class capabilities of the DOE national labs for American small businesses and bring next-generation energy technologies to the marketplace faster, the press release said.

“Innovation drives American competitiveness and creates new jobs for a stronger economy and a brighter, cleaner future for our nation,” said Moe Khaleel, associate lab director of energy and environmental sciences at ORNL. “ORNL is helping small businesses tackle fundamental science challenges and to carry out the research needed to accelerate the delivery of solutions to the marketplace.”

DOE has connected 12 of its national labs with 76 small businesses since the first round of SBV, a Technology-to-Market program launched in September 2015, the press release said. With Friday’s announcement, 114 small businesses have been partnered with the labs enabling them to tap into the intellectual and technical resources needed to overcome critical technology challenges for their advanced energy products and gain a global competitive advantage, the release said. [Read more…]