Department of Energy (DOE)

DOE Phase 1 Release 2 SBIR/STTR Topics were published last month and the actual Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will open December 12. Watch this website for this release or apply online for our assistance. Letters of Intent will be due January 3. There will be a FOA webinar from DOE Office of Science on December 16 but no details are available yet. DOE offers free assistance to first-time SBIR applicants through their Phase 0 Assistance Program. Learn more here. Signing up for this does not affect your eligibility for free VertueLab help as well, and is an excellent way to get started.

National Science Foundation (NSF)

NSF released their 2023 Phase I and II SBIR/STTR solicitations last week and are available here.

This year’s submission window dates (due by 5 p.m. submitter's local time):

• November 22, 2022 - March 1, 2023
• March 2, 2023 - July 5, 2023
• July 6, 2023 - November 1, 2023

Funding amounts are the same as FY22 ($275K for Phase I and $1.0 M for Phase II). Proposals are now submitted via Research.gov and Fastlane has been obsoleted. 

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

NOAA issued its Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Phase I Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. NOAA Phase I SBIR awards provide up to $175,000. For details go here.

Topics for the NOAA FY 2023 SBIR Phase I solicitation include:

• 9.1 Extreme Events and Cascading Hazards
• 9.2 Coastal Resilience
• 9.3 The Changing Ocean
• 9.4 Water Availability, Quality, and Risk
• 9.5 Effects of Space Weather
• 9.6 Monitoring and Modeling for Climate Change Mitigation

Additionally, NOAA gives high priority to proposals developing technologies that integrate any of the NOAA Science & Technology Focus Areas, which include Uncrewed Systems (UxS), Artificial Intelligence, Data and Cloud Computing, ‘Omics, and Citizen Science.

An informational webinar to discuss the Notice of Funding Opportunity and application process for the NOAA FY23 SBIR solicitation will take place on Tuesday, December 13th at 1:00 pm (ET). Register for the webinar here. 

Key NOAA dates:

• Thursday, December 2, 2022: Notice of Funding Opportunity released
• Tuesday, December 13, 2022: Informational Webinar
• Friday, January 13, 2023: Letter of Intent (required) due date
• Friday, February 10, 2023: Letter of Intent feedback provided
• Friday, March 17, 2023: Full application due date

Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Department of Homeland Security 23.1 is in its pre-solicitation period now and will open for submissions on December 15. Proposals are due by January 17, 2023. Learn more here. 

Department of Defense (DoD)

DOD has posted their 2023 tentative SBIR/STTR solicitation schedule. Mark your calendars!

DoD SBIR 23.1/STTR 23.A

• Pre-release: January 11,2023
• Open: February 8, 2023
• Close: March 8, 2023

DoD SBIR 23.2/STTR 23.B

• Pre-release: April 19,2023
• Open: May 17, 2023
• Close: June 14, 2023

DoD SBIR 23.3/ STIR 23.C

• Pre-release: August 23,2023
• Open: September 20, 2023
• Close: October 18, 2023

DoD SBIR 23.4/ STTR 23.D (annual special topics)

Annual BAAs have topics released throughout the year with varying open and close dates. Please refer to each topic release document under the Annual BAAs for more information 

University of Washington Clean Energy Testbeds (WCET)/ Cleantech Hardware Innovation Prototyping (CHIP) Program

Entrepreneurs and startup companies in need of access to state-of-the-art equipment and facilities to develop, advance, prototype, and/or manufacture their innovative clean energy technologies are eligible to apply. Applicant companies should be pre-B-round, or similar metric, in maturity.

The application period for the first 2023 cohort is open until January 27th, 2023. Applications will be reviewed by an expert panel at the end of the application period. Awardees are expected to begin work in March 2023.

Questions? Please contact wcet@uw.edu for more information.

New Mexico SBIR/STTR Innovation Summit

Wednesday, December 14

8:30 AM to 5:30 PM (Mountain Time) 

The New Mexico Federal and State Technology (NM FAST) Partnership program, housed at New Mexico State University’s Arrowhead Center, will host its sixth annual New Mexico Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Innovation Summit virtually Dec. 14. Although based in New Mexico, the summit will be valuable to businesses nationally, as topics will cover federal-level information.

This year’s summit will expand on the success of last year’s event, which was held virtually and had participation from across the world, with more than 340 attendees from 38 states and four countries. The Innovation Summit will feature intriguing sessions with panels led by industry experts and federal officers. Participants will have the unique opportunity to meet one-on-one with experts and key decision-makers about their innovative ideas. Attendees will hear from experts during panels that will break down the SBIR/STTR process for first-time applicants, discuss innovation as a business practice, and illustrate the importance of teaming and partnering. Federal agency program managers and representatives will offer rapid-fire pitches about some of the biggest differences among SBIR/STTR agencies and what types of innovations they are funding. Attendees will also learn about the differences between grants and contracts and what they mean for businesses. Representatives from the Navy, Air Force and Army SBIR/STTR programs will also present upcoming topics and solicitation cycles.

John Williams, director of Innovation and Technology for the Office of Investment and Innovation within the SBA, will deliver the keynote address at this year's summit.

The Innovation Summit is for anyone interested in learning about funding through the SBIR/STTR programs and how to move their technology or innovation toward commercialization. Small businesses, technology firms, economic development organizations, researchers, academic faculty, inventors and students are encouraged to attend to hear panels and presentations from several high-ranking officials and for the exclusive opportunity to visit one-on-one with program managers from federal agencies, including the Navy, Air Force, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, National Science Foundation and more.

“We are excited to bring attendees access to SBIR/STTR experts through panels and one-on-one sessions,” said Dana Catron, deputy director and SBIR program director at Arrowhead Center. “SBIR and STTR funding is the best source of non-dilutive capital for early-stage technologies, and this event serves as a front door to these programs. I would encourage anyone with an interest in applying for this funding to attend.”

This year’s event will be free to all attendees. Registration for the Innovation Summit is now open here. 

For more information, contact Ms. Catron at dderego@nmsu.edu or Del Mackey at delmacke@nmsu.edu.

2022 Innovation Ecosystem Summit hosted by the SBA

This week! December 6 & 7

(Virtual)

Hundreds of public and private sector ecosystem builders will gather on December 6 & 7. Attendees will harness the power of leverage to further advance an equitable innovation ecosystem for our Nation.

Highlights include:

Welcome Address from the 27th Administrator of the SBA, Isabella Casillas Guzman

• Fireside chat with David Cohen, Co-founder & Chairman of Techstars, on accelerating startups and their ecosystems
• Conversation with Jordan Blashek, America’s Frontier Fund, around ways ESOs and investors can strategically propel our Nation’s innovation economy
• Deep dive into the Ecosystem Building Leadership Project and its initiative to advance the field of practice
• Exploration of Federal funding opportunities for entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs)
• Interactive exchanges on trending topics that increase access to Federal dollars for underrepresented innovators

Summit programming is tailored to entrepreneurial support organizations (ESO’s) working with deep tech startups in the R&D and Lab-to-Market space;

To see the full agenda and register, please head here.

Assistance opportunity for Portland metro-area companies seeking federal contracts

As part of a collaboration with the Prosper Portland Green Cities Initiative, VertueLab now offers assistance for entrepreneurs and small businesses to find and apply for a broad range of federal climate-related contracts, even if there is no R&D or deep tech component. Learn more and apply at https://vertuelab.org/pdx-support

An introduction to these types of federal contracts, especially those that are part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding and the Inflation Reduction Act, can be found on out Blog/News & Events page here.

VertueLab's SBIR/STTR Assistance Program is funded in part by: