Help electrify innovation; join the CABLE Prize challenge today! As electrification grows worldwide in response to the climate emergency, so too will the demand for conductivity-enhanced materials and applications. There is an urgent need for enhanced conductivity materials that can lower costs and improve grid performance—including resilience against extreme weather events—as well as the performance of everything connected to the grid. We have a once-in-a-generation window of opportunity to upgrade and expand our aging electric and transportation infrastructures with new, high-performance materials.
Conductivity-enhanced materials support transformational technologies ranging from electric cars, trains, and planes to smartphones, heat pumps, and everything else in our daily lives that involves the conduction of electric and thermal energy. For these reasons, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) launched the Conductivity-enhanced materials for Affordable, Breakthrough Leapfrog Electric and thermal applications (CABLE) Conductor Manufacturing Prize to help supercharge our U.S. energy and manufacturing industries.
The $4.5-million CABLE Prize encourages researchers and inventors to develop and manufacture breakthrough conductivity-enhanced materials. Competitors must design affordable conductors that demonstrate significant enhancements in conductivity and enable U.S. manufacturers to leapfrog to next-generation materials. Up to four Grand Prize winners will be selected in this three-stage, three-year contest.
In Stage 1, starting March 17, competitors will submit their breakthrough concepts to develop and manufacture a new, affordable, conductivity-enhanced material. This stage of the prize will inform DOE about the minimum conductivity enhancement and other property standards, as well as the types of support that competitors will likely need from DOE national laboratories or other American-Made Challenges Network providers in the next two stages of the prize. Up to 10 winners will each receive $25,000 in cash awards and a stipend for third-party testing of their material in Stage 2 of the prize. DOE invites all registered prize competitors to the upcoming CABLE Big Idea workshop during Stage 1. Prize competitors are encouraged to connect with the rest of the CABLE Big Idea innovation ecosystem.