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The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support non-commercial lab-to-user dissemination of novel, reliable imaging and bioengineering technologies, including devices, software, methods, chemical agents, etc. Proposed technologies should have been prototyped, validated, and are potentially highly impactful to the research community. However, their beyond-the-lab dissemination via commercialization or industry partnership is not anticipated. Projects should focus on transforming functioning prototypes to usable tools and delivering them to end users for high-quality research in a reliable manner. Related activities may include, but are not limited to, quality control, scale-up production, user training, and technical improvements that are within the scope of the prototyped technology and limited to applying proven techniques or existing resources. Projects that involve clinical trials, commercialization, academic-industry partnership, or service using existing equipment are not responsive to this FOA.

The eXploration Systems and Habitation (X-Hab) 2019 Academic Innovation Challenge is a university-level challenge designed to develop strategic partnerships and collaborations with universities. It has been organized to help bridge strategic knowledge gaps and increase knowledge in capabilities and technology risk reduction related to NASA's vision and missions. In 2016, the X-Hab Challenge scope was formally extended to include other areas of Exploration Systems as well as habitation topics. The competition is intended to link with senior- and graduate-level design curricula that emphasize hands-on design, research, development, and manufacturing of functional prototypical subsystems that enable functionality for space habitats and deep space exploration missions. NASA will directly benefit from the challenge by sponsoring the development of innovative concepts and technologies from universities, which will result in novel ideas and solutions that could be applied to exploration. The Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Division will offer multiple awards of $15k - $50k each to design and produce studies or functional products of interest to the AES Division (see Section 3.2, X-Hab Proposal Topic List) as proposed by university teams according to their interests and expertise. The prototypes produced by the university teams (examples of which are shown in Figure 1) may be integrated into existing NASA-built operational prototypes. Universities interested in participating will submit X-Hab proposals, which will be reviewed by technical experts; subsequent down-selection will determine which projects will be funded. X-Hab university teams will be required to complete their products for evaluation by the AES Division in May 2019. Universities may form collaborations to perform as a single distributed project team.

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) and VentureWell hold the Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge which recognizes undergraduate excellence in biomedical innovation. DEBUT will award a total of $100K to undergraduate student teams working on innovative solutions to unmet health and clinical problems. Revised Criteria for 2020 In light of the social distancing measures that kept most students from entering labs this year, we are modifying our criteria to acknowledge teams that had excellent ideas for healthcare innovations but could not build and/or test/debug a prototype. We also want to reward teams who were able to achieve a working prototype. For 2020, each team will receive an ideation score and a prototype score and the team's final score will be the higher of the two.

To potentially support the full-scale testing of MHK wave energy devices, the Water Power Program intends to evaluate site locations, designs, and estimated costs for an open water, fully energetic domestic wave test facility. It is expected that a viable grid-connected facility will be capable of testing both scaled prototypes and full-scale (utility-scale) wave energy conversion devices in order to evolve reliable, low cost, renewable energy alternatives to fossil fuel. Prototype testing is essential to mature existing wave technologies, validate performance against analytic models, demonstrate compliance with applicable design standards and thereby mitigate the technical and financial risk of developing and deploying mass-produced wave energy devices, plants, technologies and related products. Construction and operation of a full-scale domestic wave test facility will assist the U.S. industry by identifying design and manufacturing deficiencies early in the development cycle and validate modifications and improvements prior to commercial deployment. Ultimately, this new testing capability will improve the country?s competitiveness in MHK energy technology, encourage domestic manufacturing, job creation, and provide a new technology that utilizes an untapped renewable resource to help achieve the nation?s energy goals. This FOA is intended to identify possible site locations and evaluate the potential to establish a national wave testing facility within U.S. territorial waters. 

DARPA's Living Foundries: 1000 Molecules program seeks to build a scalable, integrated, rapid design and prototyping infrastructure for the facile engineering of biology. This infrastructure will enable transformative and currently inaccessible projects to develop advanced chemicals, materials, sensing capabilities, and therapeutics. Furthermore, the infrastructure will provide a flexible, efficient, and continuously improving capability to Department of Defense (DoD) and the engineering biology community. A final proof-of-principle demonstration of capabilities will require rapid design and prototyping centers to generate 1000 novel molecules and chemical building blocks, thus enabling access to radical new materials.

The Army Contracting Command - New Jersey (ACC-NJ), on behalf of The Department of Defense (DOD) is releasing this special notice to inform interested parties of an interest in establishing a Section 845 Other Transaction (OTA) agreement with an eligible entity or group of entities to develop and mature technologies and support policy development to enable advanced approaches to electromagnetic spectrum use. This initiative will support possible needs across the government and industry, in alignment with the National Information Technology R&D (NITRD)/Wireless Spectrum R&D (WSRD) Senior Steering Group (SSG) mission to promote collaboration among government, industry and academia. The purpose of this effort is to identify areas of Research & Development/Prototyping (R&D/PROTOTYPING) of vital importance to the Department's ability to maintain access to the Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS). The Government is seeking to facilitate optimal application of SRF funds in developing technologies that enable both spectrum sharing and more efficient spectrum use.

The U.S. Army Armament Research Development, and Engineering Center (ARDEC) intends to issue a Request for Prototype Proposal (RPP) for Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) program of record under the Ground Vehicle Systems Other Transaction Agreement (GVS OTA)

The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support non-commercial lab-to-user dissemination of novel, reliable imaging and bioengineering technologies of high interest to NIBIB, including biomedical devices, software, methods and imaging agents. Technologies proposed for dissemination should have been prototyped and validated and have demonstrated potential for high value to the research community but for which dissemination via commercialization is not a viable pathway. Projects should focus on transforming functioning prototypes into reliable tools and delivering them to end users. Related activities may include, but are not limited to, quality control, scale-up production, user training, and minor technical improvements.

This R18 Request for Application (RFA) calls for the creation and utilization of Patient Safety Learning Laboratories. These learning laboratories are places and networks where transdisciplinary teams identify closely related threats to diagnostic or treatment efforts associated with a high burden of harm and cost. Following a systems engineering methodology, the learning laboratories stretch professional boundaries, envision innovative designs, and take advantage of brainstorming and rapid prototyping techniques that other leading industries employ. Promising prototypes undergo further develop-test-revise iterations, and subsequent integration as a working system. After further improvements are made to the integrated working system, its efficacy is evaluated in a realistic simulated or clinical setting. While applicants will select the area of diagnostic or treatment focus they consider of high significance, a flexible methodology -- problem analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation -- is required that parallels a systems engineering process to give an underlying structure to the work undertaken.

1. Lithium-ion Battery Safety. Safety concerns continue to hamper full adoption of lithium-ion batteries for defense systems, despite significant research investments by the government and the private sector. This Defense initiative will advance promising lithium-ion battery safety technologies at university research laboratories into early laboratory prototypes and potentially minimum viable products for adoption by the defense and commercial sectors via early startups, small businesses and non-traditional defense contractors. Specific technical areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: improved electrolytes; stable high-energy anodes and cathodes; cell components and structures that enhance safety and reliability (e.g. use of electrode coatings and electrolyte additives); safety optimization through battery and battery module design and packaging; and battery management and state of health techniques that prevent and/or mitigate catastrophic failure. 2. Electrical Grid Reliability, Resiliency and Security. Both the defense and commercial sectors recognize the ever-growing criticality to enhance electrical grid reliability, resiliency and security through innovation at the component and system levels. This Defense initiative will advance relevant electrical grid innovations at university research laboratories into early laboratory prototypes and potentially minimum viable products for adoption by the defense and commercial sectors via early startups, small businesses and non-traditional defense contractors. Specific technical areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: advanced electrical power generation, transmission and distribution hardware and software; physical cyber secured industrial controls hardware and software; effective control of microgrids supporting high-dynamic loads; electrical grid protocols and controls to maintain secured operations of critical infrastructure under adverse conditions; hardening of e

NineSigma, representing a global industrial manufacturer, invites proposals for engineering services for design and prototype of rugged power supplies for industrial applications.

The goal of the CPS program is to develop the core system science needed to engineer complex cyber-physical systems upon which people can depend with high confidence. The program aims to foster a research community committed to advancing research and education in CPS and to transitioning CPS science and technology into engineering practice. By abstracting from the particulars of specific systems and application domains, the CPS program aims to reveal cross-cutting fundamental scientific and engineering principles that underpin the integration of cyber and physical elements across all application sectors.  To expedite and accelerate the realization of cyber-physical systems in a wide range of applications, the CPS program also supports the development of methods, tools, and hardware and software components based upon these cross-cutting principles, along with validation of the principles via prototypes and test beds.

Develop and demonstrate an integrated system prototype capable of defeating a raid of self-guided, small unmanned aircraft systems attacking a high value asset on the move

This initiative will support projects that focus solely on development of technologies with the potential to enable biomedical research. Projects should be justified in terms of potential biomedical impact, but should not include any application to specific biomedical research questions. Proof of principle for the technology will have already been shown, but there will still be significant fundamental technical challenges. Applications should include preliminary data. The products of this research will be functioning prototype instruments, methods, synthetic approaches, etc., characterized adequately to be ready for first application to the type of biomedical research questions that provided the rationale for their development.

The goal of the CPS program is to develop the core system science needed to engineer complex cyber-physical systems that people can use or interact with and depend upon. Some of these may require high-confidence or provable behaviors. The program aims to foster a research community committed to advancing research and education in CPS and to transitioning CPS science and technology into engineering practice. By abstracting from the particulars of specific systems and application domains, the CPS program seeks to reveal cross-cutting fundamental scientific and engineering principles that underpin the integration of cyber and physical elements across all application sectors. To expedite and accelerate the realization of cyber-physical systems in a wide range of applications, the CPS program also supports the development of methods, tools, and hardware and software components based upon these cross-cutting principles, along with validation of the principles via prototypes and testbeds. We have also seen a convergence of CPS technologies and research thrusts that underpin Smart & Connected Communities (S&CC) and the Internet of Things (IoT). These domains offer new and exciting challenges for foundational research and provide opportunities for maturation at multiple time horizons.

The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to encourage applications to the newly authorized Direct-to-Phase II SBIR grant mechanism.  Applications are invited from eligible United States small business concerns (SBCs) that have demonstrated the scientific and technical merit and feasibility of the prototype stage of developing a biomedical technology that has commercial potential, R&D that is characteristic of Phase-I (R43) SBIR projects.  The Direct-to-Phase II grant mechanism is intended to facilitate SBIR-type R&D, to expand R&D opportunities for applicant small business concerns (SBCs), and to enhance the pace of technology development and commercialization.   

The NSF Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) program within the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) is an umbrella for two complementary subprograms, Accelerating Innovation Research (AIR) and Building Innovation Capacity (BIC). In the final analysis, both programs are concerned with the movement of academic research discoveries into the marketplace although each focuses on different stages along the innovation spectrum. The subject of this solicitation is PFI: AIR Technology Translation (TT) only. The PFI: AIR-TT solicitation is intended to help bridge the funding gap between existing research discoveries that validate relevant science and engineering fundamentals and their translation through proof-of-concept, prototype, or scale-up along a path toward commercialization and engage faculty and students in entrepreneurial/innovative thinking.

The General & Age Related Disabilities Engineering (GARDE) program supports research that will lead to the development of new technologies, devices, or software for persons with disabilities.  Research may be supported that is directed to the characterization, restoration, and/or substitution of human functional ability or cognition, or to the interaction of persons with disabilities and their environment.  Areas of particular recent interest are disability-related research in neuroscience/neuroengineering and rehabilitation robotics.  Emphasis is placed on significant advancement of fundamental engineering and scientific knowledge and not on incremental improvements.  Proposals should advance discovery or innovation beyond the frontiers of current knowledge in disability-related research.  Applicants are encouraged to contact the Program Director prior to submitting a proposal. Undergraduate Engineering Design Projects are also supported, especially those that provide prototype "custom-designed" devices or software for persons with disabilities.  The education of undergraduate engineering students is enhanced through Undergraduate Engineering Design Projects' awards supported by the GARDE program. 

DARPA seeks new methods for analysis and decoding of neural signals in order to understand how neural stimulation could be applied to facilitate recovery of memory encoding following brain injury. Ultimately, it is desired to develop a prototype implantable neural device that enables recovery of memory in a human clinical population. Additionally, the program encompasses the development of quantitative models of complex, hierarchical memories and exploration of neurobiological and behavioral distinctions between memory function using the implantable device versus natural learning and training.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is a new initiative to support the development of cancer-relevant technologies suitable for use in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).  Specifically, the FOA solicits applications for projects to adapt, apply, and validate existing or emerging technologies into a new generation of user-friendly, low-cost devices or assays that are clinically comparable to currently used technologies for imaging, in vitro detection/diagnosis, or treatment of cancers in humans living in LMICs. Funds will be made available through the UH2/UH3 phased innovation cooperative agreement award mechanism.  Applicants should have a working assay or prototype (not necessarily already capable of cancer applications).  The initial 2-year (or shorter) UH2 exploratory phase will be a feasibility study to demonstrate technical functionality and clinical potential for use in LMIC settings by meeting specific performance milestones.  UH2 projects that have met their milestones will be administratively considered by NCI and prioritized for transition to the UH3 validation phase.  UH3 awards will support improvements and validations of the technologies in the LMIC settings.  The project period for the UH3 phase is up to 3 years.  Projects proposed in response to this FOA will require multidisciplinary efforts to succeed and therefore all applicant teams must include expertise in engineering/assay/treatment development, oncology, global healthcare delivery, and business development.  Investigators responding to this FOA must address both UH2 and UH3 phases.