NIST Announces 2021 R&D Opportunities for Small Businesses

NIST Announces 2021 R&D Opportunities for Small Businesses

Credit: Hummon/NIST


The heart of NIST’s next-generation miniature atomic clock — ticking at high “optical” frequencies — is this vapor cell on a chip, shown next to a coffee bean for scale. 



GAITHERSBURG, Md. — The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced its fiscal year 2021 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I topics. NIST’s SBIR program encourages domestic small businesses to engage in federal research and development that has the potential for commercialization with funding of up to $100,000 per project. 


The mission of the federal SBIR program is to “support scientific excellence and technological innovation through the investment of federal research funds in critical American priorities to build a strong national economy.” The SBIR Phase I funding should be used to establish the technical merit, feasibility and commercial potential of the proposed research and development efforts. Successful projects may be eligible for additional funding in later phases of the program. 


Small science-and-technology-based firms with strong research capabilities in the following areas are encouraged to submit applications. Applications must identify and address a specific NIST technical program area that falls within one of these research areas or a NIST-patented technology available for licensing.


Advanced Communications, Networks and Scientific Data Systems
Advanced Manufacturing and Material Measurements 
Cybersecurity and Privacy
Fundamental Measurement, Quantum Science and Measurement Dissemination 
Health and Biological Systems Measurements
Physical Infrastructure and Resilience 
Exploratory Measurement Science

NIST’s SBIR program supports research at the frontiers of measurement science to ensure that the U.S. system of measurements is firmly grounded in sound scientific and technical principles. Its research activities provide industry, academia and other federal agencies with measurement tools and standards to strengthen U.S. competiti ..

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