ACS Joins ESC Call to Fund DOE Foundation

November 11, 2024

Dear Chairwoman Murray, Chairman Fleischmann, Ranking Member Kennedy, and Ranking Member Kaptur,

As you prepare a final fiscal year (FY) 2025 Energy and Water bill, the undersigned organizations urge you to appropriate at least $3 million for the Department of Energy (DOE) Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation (FESI), consistent with the Senate mark. This level of funding is needed to support FESI’s operations and administrative expenses as well as provide some seed capital to build public-private partnerships, raise funds, and support early-stage activities to help commercialize innovative clean energy and emerging technologies.

Authorized in the CHIPS and Science Act and first funded in the final FY 2024 Energy and Water bill, DOE formally established FESI and named its inaugural Board of Directors in May 2024. These 13 leaders from philanthropy, business, science and innovation, national security, clean energy, and other sectors have been tasked with setting the new foundation’s strategic goals and implementation agenda as well as raising private and philanthropic funds to help accelerate the transition to clean energy, meet critical national science and technology needs, and strengthen energy security. As a nonprofit foundation, FESI can pool resources to support innovative teams from industry, universities, national laboratories, state energy offices and incubators to commercialize new energy and emerging technologies. FESI can also leverage its connection to DOE to connect innovators with world-leading facilities, instrumentation, and experts at the 17 DOE national laboratories and DOE-funded research universities and bring to market the most promising energy and emerging technologies. Modeled after the successful Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) and other congressionally-mandated agency-affiliated foundations, FESI will complement DOE investments in cutting-edge research and help bridge the gap between innovative but unproven prototypes and successful commercialization and penetration of new technology into the market.

A modest investment of $3 million for FESI in FY 2025 would help accelerate innovation and unlock a new funding stream to help commercialize DOE technologies. This is vitally important to strengthen the U.S. economy, bolster our global competitiveness, and fully leverage relationships between the public and private sectors.

Thank you for your leadership and dedication to improving America’s science and technology enterprise.

Sincerely,