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The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program stimulates technological innovation in the private sector by strengthening the role of small business concerns in meeting Federal research and development needs, increasing the commercial application of federally supported research results, and fostering and encouraging participation by socially and economically disadvantaged and women-owned small businesses. The topics, listed below, are detailed on the SBIR/STTR topics homepage: Educational Technologies and Applications (EA) Information and Communication Technologies (IC) Semiconductors (S) and Photonic (PH) Devices and Materials Electronic Hardware, Robotics and Wireless Technologies (EW) Advanced Manufacturing and Nanotechnology (MN) Advanced Materials and Instrumentation (MI) Chemical and Environmental Technologies (CT) Biological Technologies (BT) Smart Health (SH) and Biomedical (BM) Technologies

A central goal of the BRAIN Initiative is to understand how electrical and chemical signals code information in neural circuits and give rise to sensations, thoughts, emotions and actions. While currently available technologies can provide some understanding, they may not be sufficient to accomplish this goal. For example, non-invasive technologies are low resolution and/or provide indirect measures such as blood flow, which are imprecise; invasive technologies can provide information at the level of single neurons producing the fundamental biophysical signals, but they can only be applied to tens or hundreds of neurons, out of a total number in the human brain estimated at 85 billion. Other BRAIN FOAs seek to develop novel technology (RFA-NS-16-006) or to optimize existing technology ready for in-vivo proof-of-concept testing and collection of preliminary data (RFA-NS-16-007) for recording or manipulating neural activity on a scale that is beyond what is currently possible. This FOA seeks applications for unique and innovative technologies that are in an even earlier stage of development than that sought in other FOAs, including new and untested ideas that are in the initial stages of conceptualization.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to invite Cooperative Agreement (U24) applications for advanced development and enhancement of emerging informatics technologies to improve the acquisition, management, analysis, and dissemination of data and knowledge across the cancer research continuum, including cancer biology, cancer treatment and diagnosis, cancer prevention, cancer control and epidemiology, and/or cancer health disparities. As a component of the NCI's Informatics Technology for Cancer Research (ITCR) Initiative, this FOA focuses on emerging informatics technology, defined as one that has passed the initial prototyping and pilot development stage, has demonstrated potential to have a significant and broader impact, has compelling reasons for further improvement and enhancement, and has not been widely adopted in the cancer research field. The central mission of ITCR is to promote research-driven informatics technology across the development lifecycle to address priority needs in cancer research.In order to be successful, proposed development plans must have a clear rationale on why the proposed technology is needed and how it will benefit the cancer research field. In addition, mechanisms to solicit feedback from users and collaborators throughout the development process should be included. Potential applicants who are interested in early-stage development or informatics resource sustainment should consult companion FOAs listed above.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) seeks applications for the design and development of technologies to monitor health or deliver care in a real-time, accessible, effective, and minimally obtrusive way for older adults with a chronic heart, lung, blood, or sleep (HLBS) condition. These technologies may be novel sensor or monitoring systems, home-use point-of-care devices, home or mobile therapy or rehabilitation tools, or information systems and should have the goal of fostering healthy and independent living for aging adults with HLBS conditions. The development of such technologies should incorporate specific human factors for aging adults including disabilities, mild impairments, as well as chronic HLBS conditions. Technology usability for these populations must be incorporated early in the development of the design. Usability considerations include but are not limited to patient-facing displays, hearing and visual impairments, tactile limitations, literacy, and design preferences between men and women. These improvements in technology design could yield more accurate and earlier detection of changes that may interfere with healthy and independent living for older adults.

NIH announces the launch of the 2018-2019 Niche Assessment Program available to HHS (NIH, CDC, FDA) SBIR and STTR Phase I awardees and Phase I Fast-Track awardees (by grant or contract). The Niche Assessment program provides a third party, unbiased assessment of appropriate market niches for products/services that are being developed by HHS SBIR/STTR Phase I awardees and is carried out by Foresight Science & Technology on behalf of NIH. Using its Technology Niche Analysis® (TNA®), Foresight will perform the due diligence on markets appropriate for each SBIR technology and develop an in-depth report for each SBIR/STTR awardee that addresses: --needs and concerns of end-users --competing technologies and competing products --competitive advantage of the SBIR/STTR-developed technology --market size and potential market share (may include national and/or global markets) --barriers to market entry (may include, but is not limited to pricing, competition, government regulations, manufacturing challenges, capital requirements, etc.) --market drivers --status of market and industry trends --potential customers, licensees, investors, or other commercialization partners --price customers are likely to pay

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) seeks grant applications to develop major advances in genomic technologies. Advances in genomics and more broadly in biomedical research have been greatly facilitated by significant and sustained genomics technology throughput increases, cost decreases, and improvements in ease of use. The proposed technology development work should allow comprehensive genomic analysis of features not assayable today, or an increase of no less than an order of magnitude improvement in an existing technology in terms of data quality, throughput, efficiency or comprehensiveness (individually or in combination). This FOA explicitly excludes the development of novel technologies for DNA sequencing and for direct RNA sequencing; those projects should respond to a parallel set of FOAs (RFA-HG-18-001, RFA-HG-18-002, and RFA-HG-18-003).

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to invite Cooperative Agreement (U24) applications for advanced development and enhancement of emerging informatics technologies to improve the acquisition, management, analysis, and dissemination of data and knowledge across the cancer research continuum including cancer biology, cancer treatment and diagnosis, early cancer detection, risk assessment and prevention, cancer control and epidemiology, and/or cancer health disparities. As a component of the NCI's Informatics Technology for Cancer Research (ITCR) Program, this FOA focuses on emerging informatics technology, defined as one that has passed the initial prototyping and pilot development stage, has demonstrated potential to have a significant and broader impact, has compelling reasons for further improvement and enhancement, and has not been widely adopted in the cancer research field. The central mission of ITCR is to promote research-driven informatics technology across the development lifecycle to address priority needs in cancer research. In order to be successful, proposed development plans must have a clear rationale on why the proposed technology is needed and how it will benefit the cancer research field. In addition, mechanisms to solicit feedback from users and collaborators throughout the development process must be included. Potential applicants who are interested in early-stage development or informatics resource sustainment should consult the companion FOAs listed above.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits grant applications proposing exploratory research projects focused on further development and validation of emerging technologies offering novel capabilities for targeting, probing, or assessing molecular and cellular features of cancer biology for basic or clinical cancer research. This FOA solicits R33 applications where major feasibility gaps for the technology or methodology have been overcome, as demonstrated with supportive preliminary data, but still requires further development and rigorous validation to encourage adoption by the research community. Well-suited applications must offer the potential to accelerate and/or enhance research in the areas of cancer biology, early detection and screening, clinical diagnosis, treatment, control, epidemiology, and/or address issues associated with cancer health disparities. Technologies proposed for development may be intended to have widespread applicability but must be focused on improving molecular and/or cellular characterizations of cancer. Projects proposing application of existing technologies where the novelty resides in the biological or clinical target/question being pursued are not appropriate for this solicitation and will not be reviewed. This funding opportunity is part of a broader NCI-sponsored Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies (IMAT) Program.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) seeks to develop and nurture a national innovation ecosystem that builds upon biomedical research to develop technologies, products and services that benefit society. Toward meeting this objective, the I- Corps™ program is being offered. The I-Corps™ at NIH program is focused on educating researchers and technologists on how to translate technologies from the lab into the marketplace. Under this FOA, participating NIH and CDC Institutes and Centers will provide administrative supplement awards to two cohorts of currently-funded SBIR and STTR Phase I grantees to support entrepreneurial training under the I-Corps™ at NIH Program. The program is designed to provide three-member project teams with access to instruction and mentoring in order to accelerate the translation of technologies currently being developed with NIH and CDC SBIR and STTR funding. It is anticipated that outcomes for the I-Corps™ teams participating in this program will include significantly refined commercialization plans and well-informed pivots in their overall commercialization strategies. Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to contact NIH or CDC Scientific/Research staff for more information about the program before applying.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) seeks to develop and nurture a national innovation ecosystem that builds upon biomedical research to develop technologies, products and services that benefit society. Toward meeting this objective, the I- Corps™ program is being offered. The I-Corps™ at NIH program is focused on educating researchers and technologists on how to translate technologies from the lab into the marketplace. Under this FOA, participating NIH and CDC Institutes and Centers will provide administrative supplement awards to two cohorts of currently-funded SBIR and STTR Phase I grantees to support entrepreneurial training under the I-Corps™ at NIH Program. The program is designed to provide three-member project teams with access to instruction and mentoring in order to accelerate the translation of technologies currently being developed with NIH and CDC SBIR and STTR funding. It is anticipated that outcomes for the I-Corps™ teams participating in this program will include significantly refined commercialization plans and well-informed pivots in their overall commercialization strategies. Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to contact NIH or CDC Scientific/Research staff for more information about the program before applying.

WHO CAN APPLY? I-Corps@Ohio funds will be offered on a competitive basis to teams of faculty researchers and graduate students developing institution-based technologies from Ohio colleges and universities. Under the supervision of business and entrepreneurial mentors, teams will develop market-driven value propositions and scalable business models around their technologies and attract follow on funding to support company formation and market entry. APPLICATION PROCESS The I-Corps@Ohio proposal submission process consists of five steps: 1. mandatory meeting with the appropriate TTO representative(s) at the PI's institution; 2. team selection of technology track (science and engineering or medtech); 3. registration of all team members in the online portal; 4. proposal submission; and 5. full team interview with I-Corps@Ohio program representatives. All teams are required to complete the online profile and submission questionnaire beginning October 23, 2019. Deadline to apply is January 15, 2019. The PI may complete this information or designate another member of the team as the lead member. Subsequent members of the team will be invited to join by the lead member through the application portal and must complete his or her profile. Every effort should be made to identify all team members prior to submitting the online proposal submission questionnaire. Additional team members may be added later. You will be asked to select from two tracks: Medtech Track: Teams will select Medtech Track if the subject technology is in the form of medical devices, diagnostics, medicines, vaccines, software, testing procedures and systems and is developed to solve a health/clinical problem and improve the quality of human life. Science and Engineering (S&E) Track: Teams will select S&E Track if the technology does not fit into the Medtech category.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to invite Cooperative Agreement (U01) applications for the development of enabling informatics technologies to improve the acquisition, management, analysis, and dissemination of data and knowledge across the cancer research continuum including cancer biology, cancer treatment and diagnosis, cancer prevention, cancer control and epidemiology, and/or cancer health disparities. As a component of the NCI's Informatics Technology for Cancer Research (ITCR) Program, this FOA focuses on early-stage development from prototyping to hardening and adaptation. Early-stage development is defined for the purpose of this FOA as the initial development or the significant modification of existing tools for new applications. The central mission of ITCR is to promote research-driven informatics technology across the development lifecycle to address priority needs in cancer research. In order to be successful, proposed development plans must have a clear rationale on why the proposed technology is needed and how it will benefit the cancer research field.

Purpose of Program: The purpose of the RERC program is to improve the effectiveness of services authorized under the Rehabilitation Act by conducting advanced engineering research on and development of innovative technologies that are designed to solve particular rehabilitation problems or to remove environmental barriers. RERCs also demonstrate and evaluate such technologies, facilitate service delivery system changes, stimulate the production and distribution of new technologies and equipment in the private sector, and provide training opportunities. NIDILRR seeks to fund an RERC on Technologies to Promote Exercise and Health Among People with Disabilities. This RERC must investigate access to exercise by people with disabilities in both recreational and clinical settings and evaluate the impact of exercise on health outcomes of people with disabilities.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages applications that will develop novel technologies and/or tools for the isolation and characterization of extracellular vesicles (EVs) of Central Nervous System (CNS) origin. The primary focus of the technology development includes robust and reproducible CNS-EV isolation methods. Specifically, there is a need to establish technologies for the isolation and purification of CNS-EVs from peripheral samples and the characterization of CNS-EV types, cargos, and origin, as well as to validate these methods for further analyses. Validation of these technologies may include the analysis of the full range of EV composition such as RNA, proteins, lipids, and metabolites.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) seeks clinical research focused on the development and utilization of technologies that can help address patient outcomes. Relevant areas of technology include remote healthcare delivery to patients via telehealth, robotics to enhance medication adherence, on-site (e.g., clinical or home setting) care delivery, mobile heath to increase access and adherence, web-based decision support tools, and others. Research projects may focus on assessment, diagnosis, intervention development, or intervention implementation. Research projects that a) incorporate emerging and cutting edge technologies to explain and predict patient trajectories, b) inform interventions, c) support real-time clinical decision making, and d) facilitate effective long-term management of chronic illness are especially needed. Critical to this FOA, proposed research should identify specific patient outcomes expected to improve from technological approaches. The specific tools or interventions proposed should clearly indicate how they will enhance patient benefits in environments, such as clinical settings, and/or in the home and community. Also listed under R21

This position has developed out of a collaborative research initiative between CHM and the International Diagnostics Centre (IDC) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on diagnostics for communicable disease. Recent research has demonstrated the importance of dynamic contextual processes and environmental factors in determining how individuals, populations, and health systems respond to novel technologies and disease control interventions. However, the role of socio-cultural factors is often unacknowledged in technology development, implementation, and assessments, with consequences for the uptake and efficacy of healthcare delivery and disease control in the population. The collaboration between CHM and IDC aims to promote cross-disciplinary research into diagnostic technologies, foregrounding the significance of socio-cultural contexts in the development, successful integration, and sustainable implementation of diagnostic technologies for infectious diseases in East Asia.

The goal of the Smart and Connected Health (SCH) Program is to accelerate the development and use of innovative approaches that would support the much needed transformation of healthcare from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive, proactive, evidence-based, person-centered and focused on well-being rather than disease. Approaches that partner technology-based solutions with biobehavioral health research are supported by multiple agencies of the federal government including the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The purpose of this program is to develop next generation health care solutions and encourage existing and new research communities to focus on breakthrough ideas in a variety of areas of value to health, such as sensor technology, networking, information and machine learning technology, decision support systems, modeling of behavioral and cognitive processes, as well as system and process modeling. Effective solutions must satisfy a multitude of constraints arising from clinical/medical needs, social interactions, cognitive limitations, barriers to behavioral change, heterogeneity of data, semantic mismatch and limitations of current cyberphysical systems. Such solutions demand multidisciplinary teams ready to address technical, behavioral and clinical issues ranging from fundamental science to clinical practice.

The goal of the Smart and Connected Health (SCH) Program is to accelerate the development and use of innovative approaches that would support the much needed transformation of healthcare from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive, proactive, evidence-based, person-centered and focused on well-being rather than disease. Approaches that partner technology-based solutions with biobehavioral health research are supported by multiple agencies of the federal government including the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The purpose of this program is to develop next generation health care solutions and encourage existing and new research communities to focus on breakthrough ideas in a variety of areas of value to health, such as sensor technology, networking, information and machine learning technology, decision support systems, modeling of behavioral and cognitive processes, as well as system and process modeling. Effective solutions must satisfy a multitude of constraints arising from clinical/medical needs, social interactions, cognitive limitations, barriers to behavioral change, heterogeneity of data, semantic mismatch and limitations of current cyberphysical systems. Such solutions demand multidisciplinary teams ready to address technical, behavioral and clinical issues ranging from fundamental science to clinical practice.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) encourages Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant applications from small business concerns (SBCs) to develop and validate next-generation single cell analysis technologies and tools. The purpose is to foster the commercialization of innovative single cell analysis technologies for their broad use in biomedical research. The novel single-cell analysis technologies will aid in obtaining a fine-grained and dynamic view of heterogeneous cellular states and intercellular interactions, thereby providing new mechanistic insight into biological processes in health and disease. Applications should define the current state of technologies and tools as a benchmark against which the new approach(es) will be measured. The new approach(es) should provide substantially improved performance in sensitivity, selectivity, spatiotemporal resolution, scalability, multiplexing capability, or non-destructive analysis of molecular or functional measures of single cells.

The Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 (MINER Act) permanently established the Office of Mine Safety and Health Research under the direction of an Associate Director, within the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. One purpose of this office is to enhance the development of new technology and technological applications and to ensure adequate capacity in important research areas. The MINER Act grants the Office of Mine Safety and Health Research the authority to award competitive contracts and grants to institutions and private entities to improve mine safety and health in general, and specifically to encourage the development and manufacture of mine safety equipment and to award contracts to education institutions or private laboratories for the performance of product testing or related work with respect to new mine technology or equipment. This announcement is an opportunity for the award of contracts for ground control research and capacity building.

The Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 (MINER Act) permanently established the Office of Mine Safety and Health Research under the direction of an Associate Director, within the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. One purpose of this office is to enhance the development of new technology and technological applications and to ensure adequate capacity in important research areas. The MINER Act grants the Office of Mine Safety and Health Research the authority to award competitive contracts and grants to institutions and private entities to improve mine safety and health in general, and specifically to encourage the development and manufacture of mine safety equipment and to award contracts to education institutions or private laboratories for the performance of product testing or related work with respect to new mine technology or equipment. This announcement is an opportunity for the award of contracts for ground control research and capacity building.

The Technology Validation and Start-Up Fund (the "Program") provides grants to transition technology from Ohio research institutions into the marketplace through Ohio start-up companies. Ohio research institutions may apply for funding for validation (e.g. viability testing, prototyping, etc.) of their unlicensed technologies. Ohio start-up companies may apply for funding to advance towards commercialization a technology they intend to license from an Ohio research institution.

The overarching goal of the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program is to support small businesses to develop technologies that can advance the mission of the National Institute of Mental Health, through the identified research priorities of Division of AIDS Research. This funding opportunity announcement encourages STTR grant applications to support the development of new technologies for HIV prevention or treatment or the application of existing technologies to behavioral and social science HIV research in these domains.