Chain Reaction Innovations (CRI), the entrepreneurship program at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, was founded in 2016 to help startups grow. In many ways, the program’s own journey has followed a similar entrepreneurial path, evolving, adapting and embracing this mission.
CRI’s path unfolded gradually, through years of iteration, hard questions, internal logistics challenges, early wins and course corrections. The program embedded its first cohort in 2017 with a novel idea, tested it inside a complex environment and has now created a “product-market fit” for startups within a national lab. As it celebrates its 10th year, CRI has supported 54 companies, which have gone on to raise $732 million and create more than 723 U.S. jobs.
CRI is proud of the lessons learned and impact achieved over the past 10 years and grateful to its supporters and believers who have been there along the way.
A Startup is Born
When CRI launched a decade ago as part of the DOE’s Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Programs (LEEP), the model was ambitious. It was one of three LEEP ‘nodes’ opened within two years at the DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Argonne. Could early-stage, largely Ph.D.-led startups embed inside a national laboratory without compromising scientific rigor or mission focus? Could entrepreneurs coexist within the culture, safety and standards of a DOE lab?
Founding CRI Director Andreas Roelofs spent the first year creating the CRI program in collaboration with DOE and Argonne. Former director John Carlisle, who served from 2017 to 2022, imbued the program with its startup energy. Current CRI Director Dick Co, who has led the program for the past four years, looks forward to the strategic growth potential not only of LEEP but also of CRI.
“I think of DOE national labs metaphorically as America’s ‘first gear in science,’ providing maximum torque in addressing our nation’s needs,” he notes. “What LEEP and CRI learned in our startup phase is that entrepreneurship is a useful gear in the gearbox that turns power into speed and impact. I am excited to see what this program will deliver in our next phase of growth.”
CRI’s early leadership team approached the challenge of setting up the new program much like first-time startup founders: with dedication, experimentation and a willingness to adapt. In the early days, the focus wasn’t scale, it was proof. Proof that entrepreneurs could add value inside Argonne. Proof that scientists would engage. Proof that Argonne could be a place not just for discovery, but entrepreneurial innovation and impact.
In startup terms, those early years looked less like a polished program and more like a minimum viable product. Processes evolved and improved from one cohort of startups to the next. Relationships across the lab were built one conversation at a time. Trust, both inside Argonne and across DOE, was earned.
Today, that early investment paid off. What began as an experiment is now a validated, repeatable model with measurable outcomes: companies launched, capital attracted, jobs created, technologies advanced and a growing national reputation.
Product-Market Fit
Every startup searches for a product-market fit. CRI found its fit by focusing on three areas:
- Early-stage Ph.D. technical founders ready to translate their research into impactful technologies.
- Argonne’s unmatched scientific infrastructure and expertise.
- A program model that respects both entrepreneurial speed and scientific rigor.
CRI creates a structured environment where founders and Argonne researchers work side by side, finding common ground based on advancing science toward real-world impact. This mentorship structure matters because it allows CRI to deliver clear value to innovators, scientists and sponsors.
Innovators as Proof Points
The strongest evidence of CRI’s readiness to scale comes from its innovators.
Rawand Rasheed, Cohort 2023 alumnus and co-founder of Helix Earth Technologies, exemplifies the kind of science-driven innovation CRI exists to support. Building on technology designed for space applications at NASA, Helix Earth is developing advanced indoor air quality and climate control modules to solve real-world challenges on Earth. CRI provided the opportunity for design optimization, mentorship and early-market pathways that helped translate Helix Earth’s cutting-edge research into practical applications.
Others across CRI’s portfolio tell similar stories of early experimentation inside Argonne, followed by traction, partnerships and movement toward commercialization. For example, memQ, founded by Manish Kumar Singh and Sean Sullivan, is developing the hardware needed to connect quantum computers into scalable networks - an essential step toward distributed quantum computing and ultra-secure communications. At Argonne, the team advanced quantum memory and networking technologies that could form the backbone of a future quantum internet. Their journeys mirror CRI’s own: learn fast, build credibility and grow with intention. In many ways the innovators, who were members of Cohort 2022, are not just beneficiaries of the program - they bring CRI’s priorities into focus.
Looking Ahead: The Scale-Up Question
With validation comes a new set of questions, familiar to any growing company. How do you scale CRI’s business model? What should grow, and what should remain as its foundation?
For CRI, this point matters well beyond the program itself. As DOE and its labs look for faster, more effective pathways from science to impact, CRI offers a tested approach. Its next chapter isn’t about becoming bigger for its own sake; it’s about becoming more strategic, more replicable and more integrated into the national innovation ecosystem.
The next chapter of LEEP is also being written at DOE. In May, LEEP management transitioned from DOE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office to its Office of Technology Commercialization. As new synergies emerge and new partnerships with other DOE program offices form, LEEP will be ready to meet our nation’s evolving needs.
Why This Matters to Argonne and Beyond
From Argonne’s perspective, CRI demonstrates that entrepreneurship, when done thoughtfully, multiplies the impact of science. It attracts talent, deepens partnerships and accelerates the path from discovery to deployment, all while reinforcing the lab’s mission.
“For 10 years, CRI has shown that entrepreneurship and scientific excellence go hand in hand, ensuring that breakthrough discoveries move beyond the laboratory to deliver real-world impact. As CRI enters its second decade, its role in accelerating science-driven innovation and strengthening U.S. competitiveness is more important than ever,” said Paul Kearns, Argonne laboratory director.
Ten years in, CRI isn’t done building. Like the startups it supports, it is learning, refining and preparing for its next chapter. The work ahead is about scaling impact while keeping the essential intent, and practicing, once again, what it preaches.
The next decade will not mirror the first and that’s by design. CRI’s continued evolution will reflect both the lessons of its early years and the expanding opportunity to translate science into meaningful impact.
CRI is managed by the DOE’s Office of Technology Commercialization, with additional support from the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office, Industrial Technologies Office, Building Technologies Office, and Alternative Fuels and Feedstocks Office in DOE’s Office of Critical Materials and Energy Innovation; the Advanced Scientific Computing Research and Basic Energy Sciences programs in DOE’s Office of Science; DOE’s Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office; and by Argonne.