Welcome to the Pre-Application Self-Assessment Tool

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Inventions and Innovation (I&I) funds projects that demonstrate national energy-saving innovations with viable commercial potential. Projects meeting I&I's criteria are eligible to apply for federal funding through a competitive solicitation process.

I&I supports projects from the technology categories and areas of interest listed on the EERE Web site that meet the stated mission of EERE. If your technology has the potential to yield substantial marketable, cost-effective energy savings or generation, and demonstrates technological viability, it is eligible for financial assistance consideration.

As a potential applicant of I&I, your first step is to determine whether your technology and the I&I grant program are a complementary match.

The following questions will help to determine if your technology is eligible for funding through I&I's competitive solicitation:

Question 1:

The proposing organization must be a small business or individual inventor, and be responsible for conducting the majority of the work described in the proposal. The principal investigator must be a U.S. citizen. Does your organization fit these requirements?

To be applicable for I&I grant funding, the applicant must be:

A U.S. citizen, either native-born or naturalized;

A small business (as defined by Small Business Administration) that is incorporated and operating in the United States;

The applicant must conduct at least 50 percent of the effort whether it is a U.S. citizen or a U.S. small business. The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) defines a "small business" at http://www.sba.gov/size/. To find the SBA small business definition by NAICS code, go to http://www.sba.gov/size/sizetable2002.html.
Individual inventors and very small businesses (15 or fewer employees) are especially encouraged to apply for funding.

Question 2:

Does the proposed technology have a general applicability to EERE programs? Does it relate to an EERE program?

I&I primarily focuses on the stated mission of EERE. If your technology has the potential to yield substantial marketable, cost-effective energy savings or generation, and demonstrates technological viability, it is eligible for financial assistance consideration.

Topic areas that are excluded from I&I funding are:

nuclear power generation;

remediation of sites;

treatment or storage of nuclear or mixed wastes resulting from nuclear power generation;

weapons, games, and toys;

municipal waste;

oil, gas, and coal exploration technologies;

waste tire utilization;

technologies that violate known laws of physics or

thermodynamics;

projects not relevant to the EERE mission or program priorities.

Question 3:

Does your technology save or generate millions of Btu/year? Can you provide a realistic market penetration model to support that claim?

Question 4:

Is the technology truly innovative and does it provide significant additional benefits when compared to state-of-the-art technologies already in existence?

Benefits that may enourage purchasing decisions in relation to your technology may include but are not limited to:

saves time

improves safety

improves convenience

reduces environmental impact

improves ease of operations and/or reduces maintenance burden

reduces operations cost

improves appearance

improves comfort

improves national security

If you have answered YES to all of the above questions, you may want to consider registering with IIPS so that you can learn more about current opportunities for doing business with DOE, registering to submit a proposal, and obtaining information and guidance on the acquisition and financial assistance award process.

Please note that you can only apply for an I&I grant when the I&I competitive solicitation is open. However, at present I&I has no funding for its activities in fiscal years 2007 and 2008, so it has announced no upcoming funding opportunity solicitations.