Are you a thinker, entrepreneur, or innovator? You belong here. Anyone with a groundbreaking idea can help transform the geothermal industry through the American-Made Geothermal Heat Pumps PATHs Prize.
Donor Name: American Made Challenges
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Awards and Prizes
Deadline: 02/15/2025
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
The American-Made Partnerships to Accelerate Training & Hiring for Geothermal Heat Pumps (GHP PATHs) Prize is a $3 million-dollar prize competition designed to hire, certify, and train the current and next generation of geothermal heat pump workers. Competitors leverage the American-Made Network, the innovation engine of more than 475 organizations, including world-class experts at the U.S. Department of Energy’s 17 national labs, clean tech accelerators, incubators, universities, facilities, and more.
The Geothermal Heat Pumps (GHP) PATHs Prize encourages the rapid development of partnerships and programs that scale the hiring and training of GHP workers in all communities. GHP PATHs Prize competitors participate in three contests – Connect, Engage, and Execute – to transform their ideas into reality in months, rather than years. Competitors have a chance to win part of $3 million to help them advance in the competition and accelerate the development of their solutions.
- Phase 1: Connect – Competitors submit a narrative describing their vision for building a sustainable pathway to training and hiring in their defined region. Up to 20 winning teams will receive $40,000 each in cash and will be eligible to compete in Phase 2.
- Phase 2: Engage – Competitors formalize commitments between engaged partners. Partnerships analyze the gaps and needs of the GHP workforce in their defined region and propose a workforce development program with a realistic training plan and hiring strategy. At the end of Phase 2, up to 8 winning teams will receive $150,000 each in cash and be eligible to compete in Phase 3.
- Phase 3: Execute – Competitors execute their proposed workforce development program and submit results including number of workers trained, new hires, and plan on sustainable long-term industry commitments. Winning teams will receive from $100,000 to $400,000.
Program Goal Requirements
Only submissions relevant to the goals of this program are eligible to compete. The Prize Administrator must conclude that all the following statements are true when applied to your submission:
- The proposed solution is related to the GHP industry.
- The majority of activities that are described in and support the submission package are performed in the United States and have the potential to benefit the U.S. market.
- The proposed solution represents an innovation that will move the industry beyond its current state.
- The proposed solution is not dependent on new; pending; or proposed federal, state, or local government legislation, resolutions, appropriations, measures, or policies.
- The proposed solution does not involve the lobbying of any federal, state, or local government office.
- The proposed solution is based on fundamental technical principles and is consistent with a basic understanding of the U.S. market economy.
- The submission content sufficiently confirms the competitor’s intent to commercialize early-stage technology and establish a viable U.S.-based business in the near future with revenues that do not solely depend on licensing fees of intellectual property.
Eligibility Criteria
The competition is open only to private entities (for-profits and nonprofits); nonfederal government entities such as states, counties, tribes, and municipalities; academic institutions; and individuals, subject to the following requirements:
- Private entities must be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States.
- Academic institutions must be based in the United States.
- An individual prize competitor or group of individuals competing as one team who are not competing as part of an incorporated private entity must all be United States citizens or legal permanent residents.
- Individuals competing as part of an incorporated private entity may participate if they are legally allowed to work in the United States.
- DOE employees, employees of sponsoring organizations, members of their immediate families (e.g., spouses, children, siblings, or parents), and persons living in the same household as such persons, whether or not related, are not eligible to participate in the prize.
- Individuals who worked at DOE (federal employees or support service contractors) within six months prior to the submission deadline of any contest are not eligible to participate in any prize contests in this program.
- Federal entities and federal employees are not eligible to participate in any portion of the prize.
- DOE national laboratory employees cannot compete in the prize.
- Entities and individuals publicly banned from doing business with the U.S. government such as entities and individuals debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded from or ineligible for participating in federal programs are not eligible to compete.
- Individuals participating in a foreign government talent recruitment program sponsored by a country of risk and teams that include such individuals are not eligible to compete.
- Entities owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a government of a country of risk are not eligible to compete.
For more information, visit American-Made Challenges.
