ETA 2021 Strategic Plan - Flipbook - Page 97
One of the most meaningful benefits
for the fellows, now and into the future,
is a large and growing network of
advisors and consultants they can turn
to throughout their career, as well as a
growing group of program alumni.
Research Objectives
Building upon the success of the
fellowship program, ETA’s Cyclotron
Road Division is exploring an expansion
of programs to further support the
Lab’s mission to translate science into
impact by:
• Setting up an entrepreneurin-residence program where
researchers from outside
companies spend time at the Lab
collaborating with our world-class
scientists
• Developing entrepreneurial
bootcamps for diverse high
school, undergraduate, and
graduate students to build the
pipeline of future innovators
• Organizing corporate externships
where Lab researchers are able
to embed part-time at outside
companies to build relationships
and expand the range of
problems they want to solve
Why We Need
Cyclotron Road
It is very difficult for early career scientists
with great ideas in hard tech to get start-up
funding, laboratory space and equipment,
mentorship, and a professional network
for support and encouragement. Cyclotron
Road’s fellowship program facilitates that
and much more in an age when most capital
sources are hesitant to back potentially
game-changing clean energy technology
startups.
Cyclotron Road scientists are developing
“hard” clean energy technologies
— meaning physical as opposed to
computational or software technologies —
rooted in materials science, chemistry, and
physics and requiring manufacturing. These
technologies need significantly more time
and capital to develop, scale, and deploy
than do software or consumer-product
investments.
For investors looking for big financial
returns in a very short time, investments in
hard tech can be difficult to justify. While
more entities are starting to invest in hard
tech for climate, like impact funds, it still
takes a lot of money and a long time. The
result: few technology entrepreneurs from
America’s top research institutions can get
the critical early-stage financial support
required for them to dedicate their lives to
developing the hard technologies we need
for a clean energy future.
The solution is Cyclotron Road. Without
such investments, the nation risks a lost
generation of clean energy entrepreneurs at
just the moment we must be innovating at a
rapid pace to transform our energy sector.
At Cyclotron Road, we’re filling this gap.
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