Public-private partnerships speed lab innovations toward industry use
In 2025, the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory received more than $5 million from the DOE Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) as part of a $35 million allocation to advance emerging technologies from the national laboratories into the marketplace. ORNL’s portion will support research projects in grid security, artificial intelligence, nuclear energy and advanced manufacturing.
“This award enables us to expand on proven bench chemistry to directly turn methane into methanol, a valuable and easily transported chemical feedstock,” said Michelle Kidder, a distinguished R&D staff member in ORNL’s Chemical Process Scale Up Group and one of seven ORNL researchers selected for funding. “By developing the tools, assessing the economics and coupling AI and machine learning with targeted experiments along with industrial input, we will accelerate implementation and derisk scale-up, moving a promising solution from the lab toward market impact.”
DOE’s TCF emphasizes public-private partnerships to further taxpayer investments, U.S. innovation and competitiveness.
