DOE Just Opened $35M+ in Commercialization Funding

How your company can get in the room through the FY2026 Technology Commercialization Fund.

Here's How Your Company Can Get in the Room.

On February 18, 2026, the Department of Energy opened one of the most overlooked funding pathways in federal technology commercialization: the FY2026 Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) Core Laboratory Infrastructure for Market Readiness (CLIMR) Lab Call.

The concept paper deadline is April 1, 2026. Full applications are due June 16, 2026.

If your company works in energy, advanced materials, manufacturing, or any technology area that touches DOE's mission, this is worth your attention. Not because you can apply directly. But because the program is specifically designed to pull private sector partners into the lab-to-market pipeline.

What Is the TCF? The Technology Commercialization Fund was established by Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Its purpose is straightforward: move innovations developed at DOE National Laboratories, plants, and sites into the marketplace.

TCF funds partnerships between DOE facilities and industry. It requires cost-sharing with private and public partners. In FY2025, DOE awarded $35 million across 42 projects. Those projects leveraged over $21 million in partner cost share, bringing total project funding above $57.5 million.

This is not a grant to your company. It is a funded mechanism for DOE labs to partner with companies like yours to advance technologies with real commercial potential.

What Is the FY2026 CLIMR Lab Call? CLIMR stands for Core Laboratory Infrastructure for Market Readiness. It is the primary vehicle through which TCF funds are distributed each year.

For FY26, DOE is releasing two separate CLIMR lab calls. The one that is open now focuses exclusively on the "Commercialization Enabling Topic." This is about improving the systems, tools, and approaches that labs use to move technology toward the market. Think: better IP curation, market needs assessment, matchmaking with industry partners, and streamlined processes for external engagement.

The second lab call, covering Technology Specific Topics, will be released later this year once DOE program offices finalize technical priorities. That call is the one to watch if your company wants to partner directly with a national lab to advance a specific technology toward market.

Here is the difference. The Commercialization Enabling call (open now) funds improvements to lab commercialization systems and processes. The Technology Specific call funds partnerships where a company and a lab work together to move an individual energy-related technology from the lab toward a commercial product. That is where a company with domain expertise, manufacturing capability, market access, or commercialization infrastructure can team with a lab to take a specific innovation and build the market pathway for it.

In the FY2025 CLIMR cycle, Technology Specific Partnerships were described as projects that "advance the market pathway for individual energy-related National Lab-developed technology that is ready to generate private sector interest." That is a direct partnership between your company and a lab, with DOE funding behind it.

If you have a technology area that aligns with DOE's mission, the Technology Specific call is where you can bring your company's capabilities to bear on a real technology, not just a process improvement. The Teaming Partner List is the same entry point for both calls. Getting listed now puts you in front of lab tech transfer offices before the second call even drops.

One important detail: DOE is using funds from both FY26 and FY27 across these two lab calls. The Commercialization Enabling Topic will not reopen for applications until the FY28 CLIMR cycle. If you want in on this round, the window is now.

Key Deadlines Concept Paper Submission: April 1, 2026 at 3:00 PM ET Full Application Submission: June 16, 2026 at 3:00 PM ET Reviewer Comments Period: July 16 through July 21, 2026 You Don't Have to Be a DOE Lab to Get Involved Only DOE National Laboratories, plants, and sites can submit proposals and receive TCF funding directly. But here is the part most companies miss: every funded CLIMR project must include at least one private sector partner. Labs are actively looking for companies to team with right now.

The way in is the Teaming Partner List (TPL). It is hosted on DOE's CMEI eXCHANGE platform, and it is open to any company that wants to support DOE technology commercialization. You register your organization, describe your capabilities, select relevant topics, and list your contact information. DOE labs use this list to find and recruit partners for their proposals.

This is not a passive directory. It is a direct line to lab tech transfer offices that are building project teams with real funding behind them.

Join the FY26 CLIMR Teaming Partner List here: DOE CMEI eXCHANGE TPL

DOE has specifically emphasized engagement with Minority Serving Institutions, Minority Business Enterprises, Woman Owned Businesses, Veteran Owned Businesses, and tribal nations on the TPL.

What Does a Teaming Partner Entry Look Like? When you submit to the TPL, you provide your organization name, a point of contact, your area of expertise, relevant CLIMR topics, and a description of your background, interests, and capabilities. Labs browse the list and reach out directly when they see a fit.

Companies already on the FY26 CLIMR Teaming Partner List include small businesses offering commercialization consulting, market development strategy, manufacturing scale-up support, geospatial analytics, cybersecurity for critical infrastructure, and AI-driven diagnostics for energy systems. Academic researchers are listed alongside cleantech accelerators and modular energy hardware companies.

The range is broad. What the entries have in common is a clear description of what the company brings to a lab's commercialization effort and how it connects to the CLIMR topics.

If your company works in commercialization intelligence, market analysis, IP strategy, technology assessment, or any service that helps move lab-developed technology toward market, this is an opportunity to get your capabilities in front of the labs building their FY26 project teams.

Why This Matters The gap between lab research and market-ready technology is well documented. Federal grants fund basic research. Private investors want technologies at TRL 7 or higher. The space between TRL 3 and TRL 6 is where promising innovations go to die.

TCF and CLIMR exist to close that gap. This particular lab call is about the commercialization infrastructure itself: the assessments, the partner matching, the IP curation, and the market analysis that labs need to move technology off the shelf and into industry hands.

For companies that provide these services, this is the federal government funding exactly the kind of work you do. The difference is that the funding flows through the lab, not to you directly. Your role is to be the partner the lab selects to execute.

How to Position Your Company on the TPL When you write your TPL entry, be specific. Labs are scanning dozens of entries looking for a fit. Here is what matters:

Lead with what you do, not who you are. A lab tech transfer office does not need your company history. They need to know whether you can help them evaluate market potential, connect with industry partners, or structure IP for licensing.

Name the CLIMR topic you are relevant to. The FY26 Commercialization Enabling Topic covers areas like market needs assessment, IP curation, matchmaking with external partners, and enhancing lab commercialization processes. Pick the one that aligns with your capability and say so explicitly.

Be concrete about your experience. If you have worked with federal labs, TTOs, SBIR-funded companies, or defense technology programs, say it. If you have a platform or methodology that is relevant, describe it in plain terms.

Include direct contact information. This is a networking tool. Make it easy for a lab representative to reach you.

The Bigger Picture The FY2025 CLIMR cycle funded 42 projects with $35 million in direct funding and $21 million in partner cost share. Fourteen different DOE program offices participated, the highest number in CLIMR history.

At the same time, SBIR/STTR programs were frozen for nearly six months after their statutory authority expired on September 30, 2025. The pipeline for small business R&D funding dried up across NIH, NSF, NASA, and DOE. Congress is now moving to reauthorize through 2031, but the disruption exposed how dependent the innovation ecosystem is on a small number of federal funding mechanisms.

Programs like TCF represent a parallel track. They are less well known, but they are actively funded and specifically designed to bring private sector partners into the lab-to-market pipeline.

If you work in technology commercialization, IP strategy, or energy innovation, the FY2026 CLIMR Lab Call is an opportunity to get your company into the room where federally funded technologies are being prepared for market. The Teaming Partner List is open now.