SBIR-STTR News
May 20, 2011
NIH SBIR Grant Opportunity: Research & Education in Obesity & Diabetes
The National Institutes of Health in cooperation with the Army’s Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center is offering a two-year SBIR funding opportunity announcement:: “Virtual Reality Technologies for Research and Education in Obesity and Diabetes (RFA-HL-12-020). Proposals are due July 11, 2011 and July 11, 2012.
It's a good idea to request change notification emails from this site if you are interested in the project.
NIAID Posts New High Priority SBIR/STTR Topics
The National Institute of Allergy and Infections Disease, an institute within the NIH, has updated its high priority areas of research interest for small businesses (including SBIR and STTR). View the complete list of high-priority topics.
DARPA BAA: Open Manufacturing Program
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has issued a new broad agency announcement (DARPA-BAA-11-54) for cost-effective and environmentally friendly manufacturing technologies.
The goal of the Open Manufacturing program is to reduce barriers to manufacturing innovation, speed, and affordability of materials, components, and structures. This will be achieved by:
- Iinvesting in technologies to enable affordable, rapid, adaptable, energy-efficient manufacturing and fabrication processes
- Promoting comprehensive manufacturing design, simulation and performance prediction tools
- Facilitating exposure to best practices.
The program will seek development and demonstration of technologies that reduce impediments to the efficient manufacturing of affordable, competitive products that rapidly enter into service at low fiscal and environmental costs. This project is not specifically set aside for small business, but small businesses are invited to participate. View the full BAA.
Submission deadline is June 23, 2011 at 4 p.m. EST. Multiple awards are anticipated. All sources, including small businesses, may apply.
Boeing Issues Listing of DoD FY11.2 SBIR Topics of Interest
Boeing SBIR Director Rich Hendel has identified a list of topics of interest with key contact people for the current DoD solicitation 11.2. If your company has the same or similar interests, Boeing wants to hear from you. This may open the door for collaboration, and Boeing personnel may agree to provide a letter of interest for your proposal.
Contact Becky Aistrup to receive a copy of the list. Interested parties should make contact as soon as possible to allow time for discussion and response.
Use a Quad Chart to Communicate with Program Managers
Program managers and technical points of contact at prospective funding agencies often request concise one-page documents that summarize your technology and company clearly, quickly and with a slant toward the interests of the agency and the individual.
A brief white paper can be a useful format, but you should also consider the alternative format of a quad chart. A typical quad chart looks something like the example below.
Here are some basic tips for talking with program managers:
- Remember their main goal is to fulfill their agency’s mission, NOT to fund your company, so appeal to their interests
- Organize your thoughts and questions before you make the call
- Develop a compelling story that can be communicated in two or three sentences and:
- Clearly identifies the benefits of your idea and how the world will be different when it's developed
- Connects your idea with a readily understood market or industry
- Specifies in a quantified manner why your technology will be superior to alternatives, when the work is completed
- Develop a brief nonproprietary white paper or quad chart that can be emailed to contacts. The document should conveys your story and be customized for each situation.
- Always thank individuals for their time, ask if there's anyone else in the organization with whom you should speak, and ask if you may call back if you have further questions.
NIH STTR/SBIR Funding FOA: “New Technology for Proteomics & Glycomics”
This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) encourages SBIR and STTR grant applications from small business concerns that propose the development of broadly applicable research tools that address the core technical challenges in proteomics and glycomics.
This includes but is not restricted to robotics, sample preparation and pre-fractionation, analytical separations, gel and array imaging, quantitation, mass spectrometry, intelligent automated data acquisition, and improved informatics technologies.
Proposals due August 5 (regular SBIR/STTR timeline). View the full STTR solicitation. View the full SBIR solicitation.
Get Minnesota Statistics on SBIR/STTR Awards in 2009-2010
The Small Business Administration maintains Tech-Net, a public website that can slice and dice SBIR and STTR awards by many factors including agency, company, topic, date and state.
However, the data isn’t up to date for the most recent fiscal year. While SBA oversees the SBIR/STTR program, it obtains the data from each agency in order to aggregate it. The information tends to be anywhere from 3 to 6 months behind for some agencies.
Still, the data can be of some value. Here are Minnesota awards compiled from the Tech-Net site (as of early May 2011).
|
|
2009
|
2010 (partial)
|
|
Total Funding Awarded to MN Projects
|
$29,455,893
|
$27,200,721
|
|
|
|
|
|
Number of Awards by Agency
|
|
|
|
DoD (all components)
|
32
|
25
|
|
HHS (including NIH)
|
19
|
33
|
|
DOE
|
6
|
1
|
|
NASA
|
4
|
8
|
|
NSF
|
14
|
8
|
|
DHS
|
1
|
1
|
|
USDA
|
4
|
1
|
|
DOEd
|
4
|
2
|
|
DOT
|
0
|
0
|
|
Commerce (NIST, NOAA)
|
0
|
1
|
|
EPA
|
0
|
1
|
|
Total Number of MN Awards
|
84
|
81
|
Contact us at the Science and Technology Authority if you'd like to learn more about how you can use Tach-Net and other resources as a competitive advantage for your company in the SBIR/STTR program.