AFWERX Reimagining Energy Showcase for the DoD

AFWERX, the U.S. Air Force’s innovation catalyst, recently launched the Reimagining Energy for the DoD Challenge, an open crowdsourcing program that aims to reduce the U.S. military’s reliance on fossil fuels and accelerate it’s shift toward renewable and resilient energy sources. This effort supports the DoD’s mission to deter conflict and ensure the nation’s security, and it also stands to supercharge the clean energy industry.

Academics, entrepreneurs, and organizations of all sizes in the U.S. and allied countries were invited to participate in this opportunity to receive government funding. Solutions ranged from practical innovations that are deployable today to moonshot ideas that require decades-long development. On October 29th, 2020, participants were eligible to submit in up to six topic categories:

• Fixed and Mobile Energy Generation
• Energy Transmission and Distribution
• Fixed and Mobile Energy Storage
• New Warfighting and Operational Equipment
• Data Availability for Improved Planning and Decision Making
• Energy Culture, Policy, and Education

Nearly 1,000 applications were received from all over the world, including the United States, Canada, the UK, Romania, Argentina, Germany, and India. A thorough review process in mid-December narrowed the selection down to the top 177 companies, who will have the opportunity to pitch their cutting-edge ideas to a panel of evaluators and subject matter experts. Selected submissions advance to formal agreements in less than six months on average, dramatically reducing the typical multi-year contracting process.

Since launching its first challenge in 2018, AFWERX has awarded more than $33 million in DoD contracts and investments in programming participants, resulting in 28 solution prototypes. Millions more slated to be awarded for solutions currently under review.