Posts Tagged ‘National Science Foundation’
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
The U.S. Small Business Administration is accepting grant funding requests from the governors of U.S. states and territories to support programs for innovative, technology-driven small businesses under SBA’s Federal and State Technology (FAST) partnership program through May 10, 2010.
FAST provides $2 million in funding (up to $100,000 per applicant) for outreach and technical assistance to science and technology-driven small businesses. The program places particular emphasis on helping socially and economically disadvantaged firms compete in the SBA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Eligible applicants for FAST grants include state and local economic development agencies, Small Business Development Centers, and colleges and universities. Each state, through its governor, may submit one proposal.
“The FAST program is an important catalyst for helping America’s cutting-edge entrepreneurs continue to drive innovation and create good jobs,” said Karen G. Mills, SBA Administrator. “The partnerships developed through these programs will play a critical role in helping high-growth potential small firms lay a stronger foundation for economic prosperity.”
FAST funding applicants are encouraged to show how they will help support areas such as:
- small business research and development assistance,
technology transfer from universities to small businesses,
technological diffusion of innovation benefiting small businesses,
proposal development and mentoring for small businesses applying for SBIR grants; and,
commercialization of technology developed through SBIR grants.
Companies supported by the SBIR and STTR programs often generate some of the most important breakthroughs each year in the U.S. For example, about 25 percent of R&D Magazine’s Top 100 Innovations come from SBIR-funded small businesses.
More details about FAST grants can be found here: http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/sba_fast_program_annc.pdf
Proposals will be evaluated by a committee consisting of small business owners, state level representatives, federal SBIR program managers and representatives of the business and academic communities. The SBA, the Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation will jointly review the recommendations from the evaluation panel and make awards based on proposal merit. Varying levels of matching funds are required from each participating state and territory.
The SBIR program—administered by the SBA—requires 11 federal agencies with more than $100 million in R&D spending to set aside 2.5 percent of those funds for competitively-awarded SBIR grants. In Fiscal Year 2007, these agencies provided about 5,500 SBIR federal grants and contracts for small businesses, a $2 billion investment.
STTR requires federal agencies with over $1 billion in extramural R&D funding to set aside 0.3 percent. STTR totaled about 870 awards for $218 million in Fiscal Year 2007.
For more information about the SBIR and STTR programs, visit SBA’s Web site at: www.sba.gov/sbir.
Tags: Department of Defense, FAST, Karen G. Mills, National Science Foundation, R&D Magazine, SBIR, STTR, U.S. Small Business Administration Posted in NH Business Matters | Comments Off on SBA Announces Grant Funding Available for States to Support R&D, Small Business Innovation
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
Plans for high speed linkages that connect Northern New Hampshire to Manchester and extend into additional networks in Northern New England received a major boost when the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a $1.2 million grant to support building this fiber path. The funds will create new linkages among higher education institutions in New Hampshire, including the University of New Hampshire, Plymouth State University and Dartmouth College to help support collaborative research and education initiatives regionally, nationally, and internationally.
Funds are being awarded through the NSF’s EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) Office’s Research Infrastructure Improvement Program Track-2 grant (RII Track-2). The University of New Hampshire, which hosts the New Hampshire EPSCoR Office, is the grant recipient. The University System of New Hampshire operates the current network that serves its four institutions and provides Internet and connectivity services to the Community College System of New Hampshire, and several K-12 schools, libraries, public service centers, and public health and safety organizations across the state. These funds will, in part, help advance larger efforts to develop a regional optical network that will have significantly greater bandwidth speed and help address current and future bandwidth demands.
“This research and corresponding network development will thrust New Hampshire and the northeast region into the international research stage with the ability to collaborate with cyber-enabled tools and resources in ways that have not yet been possible,” said Scott Valcourt, UNH director of project management and consulting services for information technology and the New Hampshire principal investigator. “That research will have other economic development and quality of life benefits for New Hampshire citizens.”
The grant is a result of collaborative work by multiple NSF EPSCoR states that helped form the Northeast Cyberinfrastructure Consortium (NECC) in 2006. Officials in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Delaware initiated two related efforts to identify and promote the shared use of research facilities across the region and assess and address cyber-infrastructure needs. The NSF EPSCoR grant, combined with the National Institutes of Health Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) Supplement grant award to Dartmouth in August 2009, adds research infrastructure in a region of the country where the lack of bandwidth presents a significant barrier to tapping regional and national resources. The COBRE Supplement will extend the core research network to include Keene State College.
“Many of our leading academic centers that are constrained by the current fiber capacity will benefit, including the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space at UNH, the Northern New England Computing Grid that is led by Dartmouth, and the Plymouth State University Meteorology Program,” said Tom Franke, the USNH chief information officer. “The fiber optic path will also continue to the University of Vermont, creating another significant opportunity for research collaboration.”
The NECC states have created NEBC (North East Bioinformatics Collaborative), a virtual organization that facilitates research projects that require data analysis for large data sets. Pilot projects on issues such as algae blooms are planned and the regional network will enable participating states to collaborate, exchange students, and work together from remote locations by taking advantage of video conferencing and other high speed services not currently available. The majority of the funds will be used for 12 fiber strands from Manchester to Plymouth to Hanover, the electronic equipment to operate the fiber network, and support for student participants in the algae bloom studies taking place in the NECC states.
The NSF established EPSCoR to assist states that traditionally have received lower levels of federal funding. Since New Hampshire became an EPSCoR jurisdiction in 2004, more than $15 million in EPSCoR research grants have been awarded by NSF, NASA, and the departments of energy and defense. NH EPSCoR is administered by the University of New Hampshire with oversight by a 14-member committee composed of representatives from industry, government and academia.
Tags: Community College System of New Hampshire, Dartmouth College, EPSCoR, National Institutes of Health Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence, National Science Foundation, Northeast Cyperinfrastructure Consortium, Plymouth State University, Scott Valcourt, Tom Franke, University of New Hampshire, University of Vermont Posted in NH Business Matters | Comments Off on NSF $1.2M Grant to Support Hanover-Plymouth-Manchester High Bandwidth Research and Education Network
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
Feeling creative today? Have an incredible project that you’d like to collaborate on with a local academic institution?
The New Hampshire Innovation Research Center is soliciting proposals for research collaborations between new Hampshire industries and academic institutions. The NHIRC’s Granite State Technology Innovation Grant program assists companies by funding research on their behalf at a university or college laboratory. Nonbinding letters of intent are due September 21st and full proposals are due November 9th.
Here’s the official press release from the good folks over at the NHIRC:
“The New Hampshire Innovation Research Center (NHIRC) is seeking proposals for its Granite State Technology Innovation Grant, which supports research partnerships for New Hampshire companies with college and university laboratories.
The grants support research projects in new technologies under development in the private sector. It is a competitive process, with oversight by representatives from industry, government and academic institutions. Projects vary from proof-of-concept to a substantial investment in engineering or process design. Companies are required to provide matching funds or services.
A nonbinding letter of intent on company letterhead is due September 21, 2009. The Request for Proposals, with topics of interest and instructions, is posted on the NHIRC website, www.nhirc.unh.edu.
The most recent recipients are:
· Advanced Renewable Energy Company LLC in Nashua, with James Krzanowski, professor, mechanical engineering, UNH
· Albany Engineered Composites, Inc. in Rochester, with Igor Tsukrov, associate professor, and Todd Gross, professor, mechanical engineering, UNH
· Hypertherm, Inc. in Hanover, with Solomon Diamond, assistant professor, Thayer School, Dartmouth College
· Itaconix LLC in Hampton Falls, with Yvon Durant, associate research professor, materials science, UNH
· Velcro Group Corporation in Manchester, with Glen Miller, professor, chemistry and materials science, UNH
The NHIRC’s Granite State Technology Innovation Grant leverages a state investment with federal dollars from the National Science Foundation’s EPSCoR program (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) under Grant #EPS-0701730. The NHIRC and the New Hampshire EPSCoR program are administered by the Office for Research Partnerships and Commercialization at the University of New Hampshire.”
What are you waiting for? Download the RFP and get to work on innovating in the Granite State!
– Steve Boucher, Communications & Legislative Director
Tags: Advanced Renewable Energy Company LLC, Albany Engineered Composites Inc., Dartmouth College, EPSCoR, Glen Miller, Hypertherm, Igor Tsukrov, Itaconix LLC, James Krzanowski, National Science Foundation, New Hampshire Innovation Research Center, Solomon Diamond, Thayer School, Todd Gross, UNH, Velcro Group Corporation, Yvon Durant Posted in NH Business Matters | Comments Off on Grant Opportunity for Awesome Ideas
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