Tag Archives: SBIR

Washington Wants Your Help on Clean Energy Development

Posted on by
Reply

Whether you agree or disagree with Washington’s approach to trying to rejuvenate the economy (referring to Recovery Act, stimulus and the like), one thing is clear. When the government is making money available, businesses would be foolish to at least not take a look to see if they could benefit.

The latest entry in that category comes from the Department of Energy (DOE), which last week announced $30 million in funding to help commercialize clean energy technologies. These are really first-time Phase III grants under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. If you’ve worked with the government funds before on clean energy projects, here’s the chance to do more — up to $3 million over three years.

The deadline for submission of applications is August 4. Learn more at the DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy site. Here are the specific areas where the agency wants to invest:

Biomass Technologies

  • Harvesting/Dewatering Technology for Algal Biofuels Production.

Buildings Technologies

  • Transitional Technology for Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs)
  • SSL Products made from Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs)
  • "Core" Technology for Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) 

Fuel Cell Technologies

  • Advanced Materials for Fuel Cell Technologies
  • Bio-Fueled Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
     

Geothermal Technologies –  High Temperature Tools and Sensors 

  • High Temperature Downhole Tools 
  • High-Temperature-High-Volume Lifting  
  • High Temperature Downhole MWD Tools for Directional Drilling
     

Industrial Technologies

  • Sensors and Controls  
  • Industrial Membrane Process Systems   
  • Advanced Materials 
  • Integrated Reaction-Separation using non-thermal processes
  • Mitigation of Heat Losses, Fouling, and Scaling in key Manufacturing Unit Operations. 
     

Solar Technologies – Lowering the Cost of Photovoltaics through Innovative Augmentation

  • Lightweight, Flexible and Low Cost Multi-junction Solar Cells
  • Static Module PV Concentrators
  • New Methods of Crystallizing Silicon

Vehicle Technologies

  • Technologies to Address Internal Heating in DC Bus Capacitors
  • Improved Magnetic Materials for Motors
  • Advanced Materials for Lightweight Vehicles
     

Wind Technologies

  • Advanced Wind Power Technologies and Systems  
     

Fossil Energy

  • Pollution control
  • Advanced power systems
  • Stationary power fuel cells
  • Clean fuels
  • Carbon sequestration
  • Recovery of oil, natural gas, and methane hydrates
  • Advances in materials, sensors, monitors, controls, biotechnology, and computational processes
     

Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability

  • Smart Grid Technologies and Systems
  • Electric Transmission Technologies
  • Superconducting Technology for Power Equipment 
  • Advanced Materials for Power Electronics and Energy Storage
     

Nuclear Energy

  • Advanced Instrumentation and Control, Radiation Resistant Sensors, and Wireless On-Line Monitoring Systems for Nuclear Power Plant Applications 

SSTI: Save SBIR Now

Posted on by
Reply

The State Science & Technology Institute (SSTI) is a leading provider of tech-related news and information. Its most recent issue offers a straight-to-the-point editorial about a lack of action in Congress that could prove devastating to small businesses across the country.

Inconceivable? Unconscionable? Inexcusable? Which word best conveys what is happening to the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program? Perhaps all of them. The SBIR program will expire March 20 unless Congress acts before that date.

No SBIR-related legislation has been considered by either chamber of Congress since the current session began in early January, and without action by Congress by March 20, the program expires. SBIR could be attached to some other bill before the deadline, but there is no indication at this point that that is going to occur.

It is inconceivable that one of the most successful federal programs to support the commercialization of innovation will be allowed to expire at the same time the country is desperately seeking investments to prepare the nation for the next economy. As SSTI has reported, significant portions of the Recovery Act are focused on investing in the future. Green technologies. Alternative energy. Information and communication technologies. Smart tech. SBIR should play an important role in that – just as it has supported the early development of a number of important technologies and tens of thousands of companies for the past 25 years.

It is unconscionable and inexcusable to think that a federal program would be allowed to expire that has proven to be effective. In addition to the hundreds of anecdotal success stories and profit statements from small businesses, a multimillion dollar independent assessment conducted by the National Academies of Science found SBIR to be effective.

The battle over inclusion of venture-backed biotech firms in SBIR derailed passage of an SBIR reauthorization bill last year. Both proponents and opponents were unwilling to compromise, and it seems both sides will lose now.

SBIR has proven to be a valuable screening tool for venture capitalists across many disciplines, including biotech. Compared to other small businesses, most SBIR winners are worthy of a closer look when prospecting for firms to add to an equity portfolio. Is VC eligibility going to prove to be the deal-breaker for SBIR’s continued existence?

SBIR, through its competitive application process and market-driven need for the resulting innovations to be commercialized, costs less than $3 billion a year and supports thousands of small businesses across the country and several thousands more high-wage jobs for some of the nation’s smartest entrepreneurs.

This one seems pretty simple. SBIR reauthorization should be part of the economy’s solution.