DE-FOA-0003552: Plant Engineering to Revolutionize Sustainable Energy Production and Heighten Opportunities for Novel Efficiency (PERSEPHONE SBIR/STTR)
Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), U.S. Department of Energy
This opportunity closed March 4, 2025. 4 similar opportunities are open right now.
Similar opportunities open now
- SEEDING CRITICAL ADVANCES FOR LEADING ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES WITH UNTAPPED POTENTIAL (SCALEUP) READYOpenAdvanced Research Projects Agency EnergyCloses Sep 2029Up to $20M
- DE-FOA-0003467: Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy technologies with Untapped Potential (SCALEUP) ReadySame funderOpenAdvanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), U.S. Department of EnergyNo deadline listed
- Plant Genome Research (PGRP)OpenNational Science FoundationNo deadline listed
- DE-FOA-0003624: Inspiring Generations of New Innovators to Impact Technologies in Energy 2026 (IGNIITE 2026)Same funderOpenAdvanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), U.S. Department of EnergyCloses in 8 days
About this archived opportunity
The goal of the PERSEPHONE SBIR/STTR program is to develop disruptive new technologies for bioenergy crop genetic engineering. Bioenergy provides about 5% of domestic energy consumption and has the potential to provide 5-10% more. Agriculture also could revolutionize the energy sector in other ways, such as providing precursors for chemicals and materials that are currently derived from petroleum. However, bioenergy crops may not maintain their current utility, much less achieve their potential, without transformative advances in tools to engineer them. Genetic engineering is an essential strategy to realize U.S. bioenergy potential and security.The PERSEPHONE SBIR/STTR program will develop high-performance tools for bioenergy crop engineering, create novel genetic engineering modalities, and spur adoption by supporting innovative research on biocontainment. Specifically, PERSEPHONE aims to support the development of tools that could lead to an annual impact of the production of at least 1 quad of energy or mitigation of more than 60 MT of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e).The program will support projects in three areas:Technical Category A will develop robust, high performaing tools for the genetic engineering of bioenergy crops that overcome transformation genotype dependence, increase throughput 10x, and/or reduce cost and timeline by 4x and 2x, respectively.Technical Category B will support the creation of radically new technologies for plant genetic engineering that have a pathway to achieve metrics well beyond the targets established in Category A.Technical Category C will support adoption of genetically engineered bioenergy crops by developing technologies to reduce the risks of invasiveness to less than 0.1 percent and eliminate the flow of transgenes into the environment.
Historical details
- Status
- Closed
- Deadline
- March 4, 2025
- First captured
- January 7, 2026
- Publisher reference
- DE-FOA-0003552
Free. One email, sent if this program reopens or a close match to it opens. We watch for 12 months, then stop. No list.
Related opportunities
- SEEDING CRITICAL ADVANCES FOR LEADING ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES WITH UNTAPPED POTENTIAL (SCALEUP) READYAdvanced Research Projects Agency EnergyCloses Sep 2029Up to $20M
- DE-FOA-0003467: Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy technologies with Untapped Potential (SCALEUP) ReadySame funderAdvanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), U.S. Department of Energy
- Plant Genome Research (PGRP)National Science Foundation
- DE-FOA-0003624: Inspiring Generations of New Innovators to Impact Technologies in Energy 2026 (IGNIITE 2026)Same funderAdvanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), U.S. Department of EnergyCloses in 8 days