Request for Information (RFI) Plant Genetic Engineering for Energy Applications | DE FOA 0003470

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0003470

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) has posted a Request for Information (RFI) titled "Plant Genetic Engineering for Energy Applications" (Funding Opportunity Number DE-FOA-0003470). This notice is strictly an information-gathering request and not a funding opportunity. It is not accepting applications, it does not offer financial assistance, and it does not constitute a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). In other words, ARPA-E is using this RFI to hear from the community and shape what a future program might look like, but there is no active grant competition attached to it and no awards are expected under this announcement.

The RFI is centered on a potential future ARPA-E program aimed at advancing the toolset for plant genetic engineering and plant synthetic biology, specifically in areas that could support ARPA-E's energy-related mission. The underlying premise is that even though plant biotechnology has progressed rapidly, many crops and traits remain hard to engineer quickly and predictably, especially when compared with the speed and reliability seen in some microbial or mammalian systems. ARPA-E is asking for input on technologies and strategies that could make plant engineering faster, broaden what kinds of genetic changes can realistically be made, and reduce one of the biggest practical bottlenecks: the variability and difficulty of regenerating whole plants after genetic modification.

The goals outlined for the potential program focus on three major technical outcomes. First, ARPA-E wants approaches that accelerate plant genetic modifications, meaning shorter design-build-test cycles and higher throughput for creating and evaluating engineered plants. Second, they want methods that expand the range of genetic modifications possible, which can include enabling edits or insertions that are currently difficult in plants, improving targeting flexibility, supporting complex trait engineering, or making genetic engineering feasible in a wider set of crop species and elite varieties. Third, they want to decrease variability and reduce the difficulty of plant regeneration following genetic modification, addressing challenges like genotype dependence, inconsistent transformation outcomes, tissue culture bottlenecks, and the time and labor required to recover stable, healthy, fertile edited or transformed plants.

ARPA-E is intentionally casting a wide net for responses. They are seeking feedback not only from core technical experts such as plant scientists, plant geneticists, molecular biologists, synthetic biologists, and crop breeders, but also from robotics and machine learning engineers who can contribute automation, high-throughput workflows, advanced imaging, predictive modeling, and closed-loop optimization. In addition, ARPA-E wants perspectives from the broader plant biotechnology ecosystem, including seed producers, growers, plant transformation centers, and biotechnology companies. That mix signals an interest in solutions that are not just scientifically promising, but also scalable, robust, and compatible with real-world breeding, seed production, and commercialization pipelines.

To guide submissions, ARPA-E lists topic areas and questions intended to elicit practical, decision-useful information. One major area is technological approaches that could speed up plant genetic engineering for traits relevant to ARPA-E's statutory goals, which broadly relate to advancing energy technologies and reducing emissions. Another area is success metrics: ARPA-E is asking how the field should quantify whether a new engineering method truly moves the needle, not just in the lab but across innovation and discovery, trait development, and eventual commercialization of improved crop varieties. They also request ideas on how to evaluate technical feasibility, which implies interest in realistic validation plans, benchmarking against current standards, and identification of the key risks and unknowns. Finally, they want input on what would drive widespread adoption, such as cost, ease of use, compatibility with existing breeding and transformation workflows, reliability across genotypes and environments, regulatory considerations, IP constraints, and the availability of shared infrastructure or service providers.

From an administrative standpoint, the RFI is issued by ARPA-E (CFDA 81.135) under the broad category of science and technology research and development. The listing notes "Eligible Applicants: Unrestricted," which in the context of an RFI generally means any stakeholder can provide input rather than there being eligibility limits for submitting responses. The original closing date for responding is 2024-11-11. The announcement lists an award ceiling of $0 and expected awards of 0, reinforcing that this is not a funding solicitation. The full RFI text and submission instructions are available through the ARPA-E FOA website at https://ARPA-E-FOA.energy.gov.

Overall, the opportunity here is a chance to influence what ARPA-E might fund in the future by providing grounded input on the biggest bottlenecks in plant engineering, the most promising technical routes to overcome them, how to measure progress in a way that matters for deployment, and what would make new tools adoptable at scale across the plant biotech and agriculture value chain.

• The Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy in the oz, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Request for Information (RFI) Plant Genetic Engineering for Energy Applications" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.135.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-10-10.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-11-11. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

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