Opportunities

The National Science Foundation’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program provides non-dilutive funds for small businesses to conduct research and development (R&D) on technology innovations that have the potential to be commercially successful and benefit society. The NSF SBIR program accepts innovative proposals that show promise of commercial and societal impact in almost all areas of technology.

This solicitation calls for SBIR Phase I proposals to undertake R&D with the aim of establishing technical feasibility of an innovation. Successful applicants will receive a grant of up to $225,000 to undertake a Phase I project over a period of 6 to 12 months (the period to be nominated by the company).

Successful SBIR proposers will receive funding about 6 months after the solicitation deadline date. Companies that receive a Phase I award are eligible to apply for a Phase II award (award amount up to $750,000; duration 2 years). SBIR Program Directors host webinars in the weeks leading to the proposal deadline. Further information about the program, including the webinar schedule, short videos and Q&A, is also available at www.nsf.gov/SBIR.

Registrations. Start Now - These registrations take time and are required to receive funding. You must register the same information in the same way in each of these systems to avoid problems later. (See the Additional Eligibility section for more details). We recommend that you register in the following order:

1. Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS)
2. System for Award Management (SAM)
3. Small Business Administration (SBA) Company Registry
4. NSF FastLane - register company and Principal Investigator (PI)

An organization may submit no more than ONE Phase I proposal to this SBIR/STTR cycle (where SBIR/STTR cycle is defined to include the SBIR Phase I solicitation and the STTR Phase I solicitation with a December 5, 2016 deadline). This eligibility constraint will be strictly enforced. In the event that an organization exceeds this limit, the first proposal received will be accepted based on earliest date and time of proposal, and the remainder will be returned without review. No exceptions will be made.