FY 2021 NIST Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) Phase I | 2021 NIST SBIR 01

Opportunity Information: Apply for 2021 NIST SBIR 01

The FY 2021 NIST Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program Phase I opportunity is a federal research and development funding competition run by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It invites qualified U.S. small businesses to propose early-stage, high-impact research projects that align with NIST mission needs. The goal of Phase I in the SBIR structure is generally to support feasibility and proof-of-concept work, helping a small business demonstrate that a proposed technical approach is credible and worth advancing toward further development.

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is aimed at science and technology-based small firms that have strong R&D capabilities. To be competitive, an application needs to do more than present a general innovation idea; it must clearly map the proposed work to a specific NIST technical program area that is included in the research topic areas listed in Section 9.0 of the NOFO. As an alternative pathway, applicants may propose research that is built around a NIST-patented technology that is available for licensing, meaning the proposal can be oriented around commercializing or advancing a NIST-owned invention through a licensing arrangement.

Eligibility is centered on small business status under SBIR rules. Each applicant must qualify as a Small Business Concern (SBC) for research and research-and-development purposes, as defined in Section 1.05 of the NOFO, and that qualification must be true at the time of award (not just at the time of application). The opportunity also includes a clear principal investigator (PI) employment requirement: the PI must have primary employment with the small business both at the time the award is made and throughout the period the research is conducted. In this NOFO, primary employment is defined in practical terms as the PI spending more than half of their working time with the small business, which is an important compliance point for teams that use faculty, consultants, or shared personnel across multiple organizations.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is listed as a discretionary funding opportunity and uses a cooperative agreement as the funding instrument. A cooperative agreement typically implies that the funding agency expects to have more involvement than in a standard grant, such as technical coordination, collaboration, or federal participation in certain aspects of project oversight, though the precise level of involvement is normally spelled out in the full NOFO. The program is categorized under Science and Technology and other Research and Development and is associated with CFDA number 11.620. The funding opportunity is identified as "FY 2021 NIST Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) Phase I" with the opportunity number "2021 NIST SBIR 01." The original closing date for submissions was April 14, 2021, and the posting record shows a creation date of January 25, 2021. The excerpted source data does not provide an award ceiling or the expected number of awards, indicating that applicants would need to consult the full NOFO for funding level, performance period, and any topic-specific budget parameters.

In practical terms, a strong application under this NOFO would (1) select a topic area from Section 9.0 (or a licensable NIST patent), (2) define a specific technical problem NIST cares about, (3) propose a rigorous Phase I plan that demonstrates feasibility with measurable technical objectives, and (4) ensure the small business and PI eligibility requirements are clearly satisfied and documented. Further operational details, including the full list of research areas, required proposal sections, evaluation criteria, compliance requirements, and any agency-specific instructions, are explicitly noted as being contained in the NOFO itself.

• The National Institute of Standards and Technology in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY 2021 NIST Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) Phase I" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 11.620.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-01-25.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-04-14. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for 2021 NIST SBIR 01

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