America’s Seed Fund
Jan 19, 2022 – NSF releases their 2022 SBIR & STTR Phase I & II funding opportunities
Please note some of the following changes to these new SBIR/STTR solicitations. What is provided here are some highlights. Each solicitation should be read fully, in its entirety, by interested applicants. All interested Phase I applicants must FIRST Project Pitch (online PP submission link HERE ) [*Please Contact IPart to receive assistance with refining your PP, PRIOR to submission!]
With this 2022 Solicitation Release, there are now 3, not 4 submission windows:
- January 11, 2022 – March 03, 2022
- March 04, 2022 – June 30, 2022
- July 01, 2022 – October 26, 2022
Significant Revisions Since Last Solicitation NSF SBIR/STTR Phase I 2022:
SBIR&STTR PhI 2022 Solicitation NSF-22551 (link)
- NSF increased the SBIR/STTR Phase I funding amount to a maximum of $275,000 to better support the nation’s startups and small businesses, as part of the recent federal adjustment for inflation.
- The NSF SBIR and STTR Phase I solicitations have been combined into a single document.
- The new, combined solicitation presents three Phase I submission windows rather than four.
- A new required format has been instituted for Biographical Sketches and Current & Pending Support documents in NSF SBIR/STTR proposals.
- Pricing and other documentation to support budget estimates is now not required in the initial proposal submission.
- Letters of Commitment from consultants and subawardees should be included in the “Other Supplementary Documents” section, rather than the Budget Justification.
- The project Budget Justification and subaward Budget Justifications are now limited to five pages.
- Only one Project Pitch submission is permitted per applicant small business per submission window.
- The format and content of the “Elevator Pitch” section of the Project Description have been modified.
Effective February 28, 2022, NSF will transition from DUNS numbers to the New System for Award Management (SAM) Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) in NSF systems. See the forthcoming NSF Advisory Page for more details
Significant Revisions Since Last Solicitation NSF SBIR/STTR Phase II 2022:
SBIR&STTR PhI 2022 Solicitation NSF-22551(link)
- The NSF SBIR and STTR Phase II solicitations have been combined into a single document.
- The new, combined solicitation presents three Phase II submission windows rather than four.
- A new required format has been instituted for Biographical Sketches and Current & Pending Support documents in NSF SBIR/STTR proposals.
- Letters of commitment from consultants and subawardees should be included in the “Other Supplementary Documents” section, rather than the Budget Justification.
- The project Budget Justification and subaward Budget Justifications are now limited to five pages.
- Phase I Max Award up to $275,000 & Phase II Award up to $1,000,000
Effective February 28, 2022, NSF will transition from DUNS numbers to the New System for Award Management (SAM) Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) in NSF systems. See the forthcoming NSF Advisory Page for more details.
Things to keep in mind, relative to your planned project proposal for consideration by NSF:
The NSF SBIR/STTR programs provides non-dilutive, grant funding for the development of deep technologies, based on discoveries in fundamental science and engineering for societal and economic impacts, and welcomes the submission of Project Pitches and full proposals (from companies invited to submit) in nearly all technical areas. Some Important definitions are provided below:
Research and Development (R&D): broadly defined in 2 CFR § 200.8, but specified for the NSF SBIR/STTR program as follows: the application of creative, original and potentially transformative concepts to systematically study, create, adapt, or manipulate the structure and behavior of the natural or man-made worlds; the use of the scientific method to propose well-reasoned, well-organized activities based on sound theory, computation, measurement, observation, experiment, or modeling; the demonstration of a well-qualified individual, team, or organization ready to deploy novel methods of creating, acquiring, processing, manipulating, storing, or disseminating data or metadata; and/or the novel integration of new theories, analysis, data, or methods regarding cognition, heuristics, and related phenomena.
- Deep Technologies: technologies based on discoveries in fundamental science and engineering.
- Non-Dilutive Funding: financing that does not involve equity, debt, or other elements of the business ownership structure.
- Technical Risk: Technical risk assumes that the possibility of technical failure exists for an envisioned product, service, or solution to be successfully developed. This risk is present even to those suitably skilled in the art of the component, subsystem, method, technique, tool, or algorithm in question. If the new product, service, or solution is successfully realized and brought to the market, it would be difficult for a well-qualified, competing firm to reverse-engineer or otherwise neutralize the competitive advantage generated by leveraging fundamental science or engineering research techniques.
- Technological Innovation indicates that the new product or service is differentiated from current products or services; that is, the new technology holds the potential to result in a product or service with a substantial and durable advantage over competing solutions on the market. It also generally provides a barrier to entry for competitors.
More specifics on NSF SBIR/STTR Proposed Project demands are found in the current solicitations:
SBIR/STTR PhI 2022 & SBIR/STTR PhII 2022
