Quick Details For Applicants

Phase I is now closed.
Phase II is open!!

A Letter of Intent (LOI) is a critical first step; it is strongly encouraged and must be submitted using the official DOE Excel template by April 28, 2026. This LOI outlines your team’s primary and secondary focus areas, senior personnel, and estimated annual budgets. Following the LOI, the full application is due by May 19, 2026. 

The Genesis Mission Phase II is a high-impact funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) aimed at large-scale, AI-driven scientific research. It provides awards ranging from $6 million to $15 million over a three-year period to support interdisciplinary teams. To be eligible, teams must include at least one partner from a DOE/NNSA National Laboratory and one from Industry. While Phase II targets larger projects than Phase I, the 21 challenge topics and roughly 99 focus areas (spanning fields like Fusion Energy, Quantum Science, and Biotechnology) remain identical for both phases in the current FY 2026 cycle.

For Genesis Mission Phase II, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) mandates a "triple-helix" style of collaboration to ensure research is grounded in both national expertise and commercial viability.

MANDATORY PARTNER CATEGORIES

Phase II teams must include at least one partner from each of the first two categories below: 

1. DOE/NNSA National Laboratory or Scientific User Facility: At least one of the 17 National Laboratories (such as Oak Ridge, Argonne, or Lawrence Berkeley) must be a formal team member.
2. Industry: At least one for-profit entity is required.
3. Academia & Non-Profits: While not strictly mandatory for Phase II, the DOE strongly encourages the inclusion of universities and non-profit organizations as leads or partners. 

Cost-Share Rule: Industry partners must provide a 20% cost share for basic/applied R&D or a 50% cost share for demonstration/commercial application tasks.

U.S. Manufacturing: Any products resulting from the project must be manufactured substantially within the United States.

STRUCTURAL REQUIREMENTS

• Large Team Scale: Projects must be 3–5 times the level of effort of a Phase I project, typically involving a higher number of institutions and performers.
• Letters of Commitment: Every participating institution, including the lead, must provide a signed letter of commitment confirming their participation and contributions.
• Lead Institution Eligibility: Universities, National Labs, and for-profit or non-profit institutions are all eligible to serve as the lead. However, an institution can only lead one application per focus area across both Phase I and Phase II.
• Unfunded Partners: Partners do not necessarily have to receive DOE funding, but they must provide defined intellectual contributions to the project to satisfy the teaming requirement.

ORD has prepared a RESOURCE FOLDER with checklists, templates, and other handy info.

Remember that this is a limited submission opportunity, but we have simplified the process due to the large number of focus areas. Instructions for limited approval have been emailed and are available in the folder linked above.

There are no citizenship requirements for applicants, but you must be affiliated with a university. There are also specific partnership requirements, so getting started soon is your best bet to lock your partners down.