National Institute of Standards and Technology Awards $4 Million to Small Businesses for Innovative Technology Development

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently announced that it has awarded $4 million in grant funding to 21 small businesses for innovative technology development through its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.

NIST is an institute that falls under the Department of Commerce. The SBIR program is a competitive program that encourages small businesses to undertake research and development (R&D) with the end goal of commercialization. The overall goals of the program are:

• Stimulate technological innovation.
• Meet Federal R&D needs.
• Foster and encourage participation in innovation and entrepreneurship by women and socially or economically disadvantaged persons.
• Increase private-sector commercialization of innovations derived from Federal R&D funding.

The program is broken up into three phases. Phase 1 establishes the technical merit, feasibility and commercial potential of the proposal. Phase II is based on the results achieved in Phase I, and the scientific benefits and commercial potential of the proposal for the next phase. Phase III is typically for the small business to build on the commercialization objectives based on the results of the activities of Phases I and II.

Of the 21 grants NIST is awarding, 11 and for Phase I covering a variety of topics such as Advanced Manufacturing and Material Measurements; Advanced Communications, Networks and Scientific Data Systems; Cybersecurity and Privacy; Exploratory Measurement Science; and Physical Infrastructure and Resilience. The remaining 10 grants are for Phase II projects that cover Collaborations and Partnership; Data and Modeling; Precision Measurements; and Systems.

For further information on the NIST SBIR program, click here: https://www.nist.gov/tpo/small-business-innovation-research-program