A More Powerful Program for Transformational Ideas in Energy and Science

Chain Reaction Innovations, now in its ninth year, understands that developing a great idea into a technology that impacts the market remains challenging. Doing so with an energy- or science-based technology can seem nearly impossible. Complex technical challenges, long development cycles, expensive lab equipment, and impatient investors create high hurdles for even the most determined innovators to overcome.

It leaves innovators feeling isolated. But they don’t have to be.

Chain Reaction Innovations (CRI) is a two-year fellowship program at Argonne National Laboratory for innovators focused on energy and science technologies. Through an annual call, four to six individuals are selected to join CRI. It is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP), one of four ‘nodes’. The others are located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Neither the U.S. Department of Energy, Argonne nor its employees take equity in CRI startups. Argonne operates as a steward of federal funds and takes seriously any actual or perceived conflicts of interest.

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Note: program applicants must be U.S. citizens or lawful permanent U.S. residents at the time of application.