Small Business Innovation / Technology Transfer

What are SBIR and STTR?

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) are U.S. Government programs in which federal agencies with large research and development budgets set aside a fraction of their funding for competitions among small businesses only. Small businesses that win awards in these programs keep the rights to any technology developed and are encouraged to commercialize the technology.

How much money is set aside?

Each year, the federal agencies that participate in SBIR and STTR, including DOE, set aside 2.5% and 0.3%, respectively, of their extramural R&D budgets.

What phases are there and how do they work at DOE?

SBIR and STTR have three distinct phases. Phase I explores the feasibility of innovative concepts with awards up to $100,000 for about 9 months. Only Phase I award winners may compete for Phase II, the principal R&D effort, with awards up to $750,000 over a two-year period. There is also a Phase III, in which non-Federal capital is used by the small business to pursue commercial applications of the R&D. Also under Phase III, Federal agencies may award non-SBIR/STTR-funded, follow-on grants or contracts for products or processes that meet the mission needs of those agencies, or for further R&D.

The number of DOE Office of Nuclear Physics Phase I SBIR/STTR proposals submitted for the Fiscal period 2006 through 2010 are 57, 65, 75, 107 and 103 respectively. In 2009, approximately 30 phase I proposals were funded, including a slight increase due to stimulus funding.

For more general information on DOE SBIR/STTR visit the Office of Science SBIR/STTR web site at /sbir/about. For a definition of 'small business', visit http://www.science.doe.gov/sbir/FAQ.html#who.

Nuclear Physics SBIR/STTR Topics

The DOE Office of Nuclear Physics (NP) participates in the SBIR/STTR program through the annual SBIR/STTR funding opportunity announcements. Small businesses are encouraged to contact and to collaborate with NP-funded national user facilities, laboratories and universities to better understand the needs and the mission of the NP program and its community, and to best optimize resources aimed at current high priority technical challenges. These needs and challenges are reflected in the NP topics and subtopics published in the annual DOE SBIR/STTR Funding Opportunity Announcement around the third week of September.

Each summer, NP seeks and receives input for each SBIR/STTR topic and subtopic from the community reflecting the latest technical needs of the community requiring research, development and innovation. This input includes revisions of existing items, addition of new items, and deletion of items no longer needed. The community is encouraged to suggest specific new technical challenges related to their future experiments or facilities that are consistent with the SBIR/STTR R&D spirit and its grant regulations. The 2010 SBIR/STTR Funding Opportunity Announcement for NP has 5 topics, including for the first time Isotope Science and Technology. The topics and subtopics are listed below;

1. Nuclear Physics Software and Data Management
   1. Large Scale Data Storage
   2. Large Scale Data Processing and Distribution
   3. Grid and Cloud Computing
2. Nuclear Physics Electronics Design and Fabrication
   1. Advances in Digital Electronics
   2. Circuits
   3. Advanced Devices and Systems
   4. Active Pixel Sensors
   5. Manufacturing and Advanced Interconnection Techniques
3. Nuclear Physics Accelerator Technology
   1. Materials and Components for Radio Frequency Devices
   2. Radio Frequency Power Sources
   3. Design and Operation of Radio Frequency Beam Acceleration Systems
   4. Particle Beam Sources and Techniques
   5. Polarized Beam Sources and Polarimeters
   6. Rare Isotope Beam Production Technology
   7. Accelerator Control and Diagnostics
4. Nuclear Physics Instrumentation, Detection Systems and Techniques
   1. Advances in Detector and Spectrometer Technology
   2. Position Sensitive Charge Particle and Gamma Ray Tracking Devices
   3. Technology for Rare Particle Detection
   4. Large Band Gap Semiconductors, New Bright Scintillators, Calorimeters, and Optical Elements
   5. Specialized Targets for Nuclear Physics Research
   6. Technology for High Radiation environment of Rare Isotope Beam Facility
5. Nuclear Physics Isotope Science and Technology
   1. Novel or improved production techniques for radioisotopes or stable isotopes
   2. Improved radiochemical separation methods for preparing high-purity radioisotopes

For further questions on the NP SBIR/STTR program please contact Manouchehr Farkhondeh, or click here for more contact information.