Photonics business news: NSF announces SBIR/STTR funding opportunity

Washington, DC--The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced a funding opportunity for its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, which may be of interest to photonics R&D outfits. (Thanks to Jim Broderick, who manages the U.S. Department of Energy's contact database for solid-state lighting, for this tip. Jim is aiming the info at the solid-state lighting community; I'll take the liberty of expanding the aim here to the entire photonics community.)

As Jim notes, NSF SBIR and STTR programs provide nondilutive seed money for startups and small businesses in almost any sector (including semiconductors and photonic devices and materials) to perform R&D and commercialize technology. Projects should have high technical risk and high potential commercial reward.

Initial grants (Phase I) of the current funding opportunity provide $150,000 for six months. Awardees can compete for a Phase II grant, which provides $750,000 for two years. The current SBIR and STTR Phase I solicitations have deadlines of December 2 and December 4, respectively.

For more information, visit www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/sbir