The Inspiring Generations of New Innovators to Impact Technologies in Energy (IGNIITE) 2025 program is designed to support a new cohort of early-career innovators to develop the most disruptive and unconventional ideas into transformative new technologies across the full spectrum of energy applications. This announcement is purposefully broad in technical scope, but eligibility is limited to early-career researchers. In addition to research efforts, awardees will engage with ARPA-E and fellow awardees through dedicated IGNIITE events, meetings, and mentorship activities.
Submissions to this solicitation must propose transformational R&D that has the potential for high impact. If successful, a project could create a new class or new trajectory for an energy technology, with the potential to substantially contribute to ARPA-E’s statutory goals.
Awards under this program may take the form of exploratory research that provides the agency with information useful for the subsequent development of focused technology programs. Alternatively, awards may support proof-of-concept research for a particular new technology in an area not currently supported by the agency.
The objective of IGNIITE is to support and accelerate the transformative technical progress led by early-career scientists and engineers, a cohort that is often the source of disruptive innovations in research and technology.1F2 However, peer-review processes, commonly used by local and federal funding agencies to gauge likelihood of success, favor researchers with a longer track-record in established research areas.2F3 This program aims to empower early-career scientists and engineers to become independent researchers and unleash their creativity to develop disruptive energy technologies.
A second objective is to encourage these early-career innovators to focus their careers on tackling the substantial and urgent energy-related problems our society currently faces. In doing so, this NOFO will help ensure that the U.S. maintains its technological leadership in the development and deployment of advanced energy technologies. By establishing the IGNIITE program, ARPA-E joined other high-risk federal funding agencies in recognizing the importance of engaging with promising scientists and engineers early in their careers.
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