The Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy technologies with Untapped Potential (SCALEUP) program builds on ARPA-E’s primary research and development focus to support the scaling of high-risk and potentially disruptive new technologies across the full spectrum of energy applications.

The goal of the program is to help ARPA-E-funded technologies, past and present, transition from proof-of-concept prototypes to commercially scalable and deployable versions of the technology and be well-positioned for investment from the private sector.

Small business, company, and industry participation is fundamental to the success of the SCALEUP program. SCALEUP teams must propose at least one Commercialization Partner, preferably one that represents the viewpoint and needs of the target customer, to help ensure market adoption for the technology after the completion of the SCALEUP project.

To be eligible for SCALEUP funds, teams must own/control subject invention(s) or software arising from ARPA-E award(s).

ARPA-E Announces SCALEUP 2023

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $100 million in funding to support clean energy technologies by providing a path to market for promising technologies. Developing and deploying innovative energy technologies is key to delivering a clean energy future and achieve net-zero emissions economy-wide by 2050. 
 
“ARPA-E’s SCALEUP program has successfully demonstrated what can happen when technical experts are empowered with the commercialization support to develop a strong pathway to market” said ARPA-E Director Evelyn N. Wang. “I’m excited that we are building on the success of this effort with the third installment of SCALEUP, and I look forward to what the third cohort of teams accomplish.” 

Read more in the full press release here and the ARPA-E SCALEUP 2023 blog post here. 

Watch the SCALEUP 2023 Program Webinar

ARPA-E Director Dr. Evelyn Wang was joined by ARPA-E Acting Deputy Director for Commercialization Dr. Daniel Cunningham and ARPA-E Technology-to-Market Advisor Dr. Gregg Cremer for a webinar to provide a high-level overview of the SCALEUP program and objectives, highlight key aspects of the SCALEUP 2023 FOA including the application process, provide examples of previous successful SCALEUP applications, and address common questions that ARPA-E receives from organizations interested in applying to SCALEUP.

This webinar was intended to inform potential applicants, investors, and industry partners.

SCALEUP Panel at the 2023 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit

At the 2023 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit, several ARPA-E awardees sat down with ARPA-E’s Acting Deputy Director for Commercialization Dr. Daniel Cunningham to discuss their progress in scaling up their technologies. Scaling up a start-up or small business presents multiple challenges. This is particularly true when commercializing hard engineering technologies due to the investment required to demonstrate cost and performance at commercial scale sufficient to address market adoptions risks. Through the SCALEUP program, first launched in 2019, ARPA-E has endeavored to help address these challenges and accelerate deployment of promising technologies previously funded by ARPA-E. In this panel you will hear from leaders of a few of the companies from the SCALEUP 2019 and 2021 cohorts. They will describe some of the key technical, commercial, and team development challenges they have confronted – and continue to confront – in their scale-up journey and how they are addressing them.

Below is information on ARPA-E’s SCALEUP portfolio of programs.