2016 Cohort
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April 2017 CRI Newsletter
Innovator spotlight on Ian Hamilton and his technology for a radioisotope battery that lasts 400 years and is cheaper and more efficient than today's nuclear batteries. CRI announces the selection of its first cohort and prepares to accept applications for the second cohort. Read More
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Chain Reaction Innovations: The Midwest's Newest Cleantech Incubator Welcomes First Cohort and Gears up for Second
Ian Hamilton had an idea for a nuclear battery the size of a small coffee can that will operate continuously for two years and be lightweight enough for soldiers to carry on months or years-long missions. He grew the idea into a startup company, Atlas Energy Systems, and attracted early funding while a student at Purdue University. But graduation threatened to pull the plug on his dreams of entrepreneurship. “I turn spent nuclear fuel into energy via radioisotope plasma generation to power the battery,” he said. “I couldn’t just go build a nuclear accelerator in my garage.” There are only a few places in the world with that type of equipment and gaining access to them can be time-consuming and costly. Until the U.S. Department of Energy launched a hybrid incubator/accelerator at Argonne National Laboratory last year. Read More
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Purdue Innovator Selected For Argonne’s First Entrepreneurship Program; Discovery Park-Based Purdue Foundry Also To Serve In Mentorship Capacity
A Purdue graduate student who is developing technology that could turn nuclear waste into energy, has been selected as one of five innovators in a newly embedded entrepreneurship program at the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory. Ian Hamilton, a graduate student in Purdue's School of Nuclear Engineering, was selected for Argonne's Chain Reaction Innovations (CRI) program. Read More
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Innovators join first entrepreneurial program at Argonne National Laboratory
The Midwest’s first entrepreneurial program to embed innovators in a national laboratory announced its inaugural group of entrepreneurs and mentor partners, including the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Developers of energy, transportation and aerospace technologies will join Chain Reaction Innovations based at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory. Read More
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Innovators Drawn to Illinois By Argonne's First Embedded Entrepreneurship Program
In an event today with U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Senator Dick Durbin (D-III) at the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Chain Reaction Innovations (CRI), the Midwest’s first entrepreneurship program to embed innovators in a national laboratory, announced the selection of its first members and mentor partners. Read More
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Leaders address future of Argonne National Laboratory
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, Rep. Bill Foster and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz address the future of facilities like Argonne National Laboratory during an event Dec. 20, 2016 at the University of Chicago. The video tape of the Chain Reaction Innovations press conference to announce its first cohort can be viewed here. Read More
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Congressional funding is key to questions about Argonne's future
Dignitaries spoke at The University of Chicago's Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Hyde Park to announce the first participants in a new program to embed entrepreneurs at a national laboratory. Speakers included Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin. Read More
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Rick Perry 'very intent on doing a good job'
Moniz made his remarks about Perry at an event where Argonne announced the first class of entrepreneurs who would "embed" at the laboratory to advance their energy ideas. That means they will work with mentors at the labs and have access to lab equipment, for two years. The program will cover their salaries, benefits, use of laboratory equipment and office space. The Chain Reaction Innovations program is the first of its type in the Midwest and similar to an earlier program at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The four selected entrepreneurs are developing new designs for fuel cells and jet engines and aiming to harness nuclear waste and wastewater for new clean energy applications. Moniz said innovation was the "secret sauce" to address climate change and enhance nuclear security. Read More
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Meet the 4 Clean-Tech Innovations that will Drive Manufacturing Efficiency Gains
Strategic partnerships with government agencies and NGOs can help businesses drive efficiency — and develop innovations that can improve other companies’ environmental and economic performance at the same time. Case in point: a program that embeds innovators in a national laboratory where they will develop environmentally sustainable and energy-efficient technologies that drive manufacturing growth. The first four innovators to participate in the Chain Reaction Innovations program were announced yesterday at an event with US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-III) at the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. These four were selected from more than 100 entrepreneurs and startups from 22 states that applied to participate in the first cohort based at the DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory. The program is funded through the DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office. Read More
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Ernest Moniz, Sen. Dick Durbin Name 1st Cohort of Argonne Lab Entrepreneurship Program
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) have announced the names of the initial members and mentor partners of an embedded entrepreneurship program based at the Argonne National Laboratory. Read More
