Entrepreneurship program at Argonne announces newest cohort of embedded startup founders

Five new innovators will join Chain Reaction Innovations (CRI), the Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, as part of the award-winning program’s eighth cohort.

The five will join the two-year program starting this July. Each innovator will collaborate with a host scientist at Argonne while embedded full-time. Innovators plan to launch startups that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase U.S. competitiveness in emerging technologies. These resulting technologies support the country’s equitable clean energy economy and may help the U.S. reach its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

CRI’s impact is far-reaching as it celebrates its eighth year of embedding entrepreneurs at Argonne. The combined total raised by CRI startups through May 2024 is over $643 million, and the program has helped create 679 jobs to date.

“Collaborations like those between early-stage startups and CRI help unlock the immense potential of our laboratory’s scientific expertise,” noted Argonne Director Paul Kearns. ​“Through teamwork, we’ll be able to leverage our collective knowledge and capabilities to move science innovations to the marketplace and create economic prosperity.”

The five new innovators in CRI’s Cohort 8 are:

• Angela Feldhaus, self-levitating, near-space platforms for atmospheric sensing and telecommunications
• Haining Gao, hybrid solid-liquid cathode to boost lithium primary battery energy
• Berk Kovos, SynthBits: Illuminating designer qubits for all
• Jhana Porter, conversion of biobased overage streams into high-value polymer bioproducts
• Scott Svadlenak, validation of economic viability of a novel process to upcycle PVC

“We believe science is the bedrock on which innovations will deliver a sustainable, prosperous and equitable world,” CRI Director Dick Co said. ​“And what better way to realize that promise than by embedding innovators at Argonne, the nation’s first national lab.”

Innovators were selected following a national solicitation process and two-part pitch competition, with reviews from industry experts, investors, scientists and engineers.

CRI is supported by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office, Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office, Building Technologies Office; DOE’s Office of Science, Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Basic Energy Sciences; DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management; and by Argonne.

Applications for CRI’s ninth cohort will open on September 4.

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