Jumpstarting FESI: Seeking Bold Ideas for a New Energy Innovation Foundation
Congress authorized the Department of Energy (DOE) to establish the Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation (FESI) last year. This authorization reflects a powerful bipartisan consensus that an agency-affiliated foundation would be a valuable partner for DOE. It draws on a model proven by the National Park Service, National Institutes of Health, and numerous other federal agencies. DOE expects to launch FESI in September.
To jumpstart FESI, we are seeking promising project opportunities that would advance the DOE mission through collaboration with private sector and philanthropic partners.
Great ideas will:
- Accelerate clean energy innovation and climate-tech commercialization
- Diagnose and solve a specific problem in the energy innovation ecosystem or elsewhere
- Take advantage of FESI’s unique role as a facilitator of partnerships between the public, private, and philanthropic sectors
- Build on and complement DOE’s capabilities and expertise
Projects carried out by other agency-affiliated foundations and similar bodies may provide inspiration:
- Catalyzing problem-focused industry-led consortia: Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Inventions and Vaccines (Foundation for NIH)
- Stimulating innovation uptake: H2 Global Foundation (Germany)
- Strengthening incentives to broaden the pool of innovators: Egg-Tech Prize (Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research)
- Collaborating to strengthen regional innovation ecosystems: Regional Innovation Engines (National Science Foundation)
- Piloting or expanding DOE innovation programs with non-DOE funding. National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Conservation Programs
- Responding quickly to crises. Crush Covid Campaign (CDC Foundation)
- Enabling communities and new entrants to participate in clean energy innovation: FDA Patient Listening Sessions (Reagan-Udall Foundation)
To get involved, please visit our FESI Project Portal, hosted by FAS.
