Monthly Update - May 2019
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How to Make Your NSF Project Pitch - Pitch Perfect
The new, required NSF Project Pitch allows startups and small businesses to get quick feedback at the start of their application for Phase I funding. Startups or entrepreneurs who submit a three-page Project Pitch* will know within three weeks if they meet the program’s objectives to support innovative technologies that show promise of commercial and/or societal impact and involve a level of technical risk. They will also get additional guidance and feedback from NSF staff.
If your Project Pitch is a good fit for the program
Read on
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Learn to Manage Your Award
You've won your award. Congrats! Now your task is to manage the funds you've received not only to stay in compliance with government regulations, but to direct your business in an organized manner.
BBCetc provides post-award grant and contract management assistance to companies that goes beyond tools and templates to include comprehensive one-on-one consulting on organizing your business for success and proving your credibility for future funding.
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Solicitations
HHS-NIH/CDC/FDA Omnibus
Clinical Trials not allowed:
Clinical Trials required:
Standard close dates: Jan. 5 Apr. 5, Sept. 5
Dep't. of Defense
Opens May 31; closes July 1
Talk to your TPOC through May 30
National Science Foundation
Submission windows:
4-Mar '19 - 13-Jun '19
14-Jun '19 - 12-Dec '19 .
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Training on Tap
SBIR/STTR Proposal Prep for NIH
May 29-30 - St. Louis MO
QuickBooks & Compliance for SBIR/STTR Awardees
June 5 - E. Lansing, MI
SBIR/STTR for Start Ups: Building a Quality Team
Jun 5 - Kalamazoo, MI
Essentials of SBIR/STTR Proposal Planning
Jun 12 - Detroit, MI
Funding for Bio/Health Technologies: Learn from the Experts - Meet with Agency Reps!
June 18-19 - New York City, NY
SBIR/STTR Proposal Prep for NIH
July 9 - Plymouth, MI
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Ann Arbor Company is an “Engine” for Growth
Last month, BBCetc client, Genomenon, a leading genomic research company, was honored with a Best of Show award at the Bio-IT World Conference & Expo in Boston. The prestigious award recognizes the best of innovative life sciences industry product solutions, in this case Genomenon’s Mastermind Genomic Search Engine. A panel of experts from academia, industry, pharma and biotech, bases their judgement on uniqueness, importance to the industry, and the ability to offer a compelling return on investment.
According to the Genomenon website, “Mastermind accelerates variant interpretation with immediate insight into the full text of millions of scientific articles allowing users to prioritize your search results by clinical relevance and find what they are looking for 5-10 times faster.”
Based in Ann Arbor, MI, Genomenon was formed out of the University of Michigan in 2014 with an eye toward solving the time-consuming, error-prone, manual process of searching and curating a growing body of medical literature for disease-related genes and variants.
Read on
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Here's some good advice for SBIR/STTR seekers from one who's been there, Mark Kiel, MD, PhD, CEO of Genomenon (story opposite):
- Plan ahead and stick to a timeline. Ideally, you’ll be able to have the confidence to submit your proposal 1-2 weeks ahead of time and use the buffer to plan for any hiccups.
- Think carefully about why you are writing the grant beyond just the technological aspects. Consider who will be reviewing it and how they will approach its assessment and plan accordingly.
- If you are not testing and proving something in the scientific portion of your grant, you shouldn’t be submitting.
- If you have colleagues who have been through the entire SBIR process before; they can be invaluable resources – even if it is in a completely different scientific field. Ask for their advice. Have them read your proposal or share theirs with you and ask them to challenge you on any weak points of your application.
- Talk to your NIH Program Official. They can help confirm that you are on the right track with your application. Be respectful of their time. They are there to help but are busy and don’t owe you anything!
- Keep supportive people up to date on your progress. Make them feel they are part of your team. You'll be glad you did.
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New Look for eRA Commons Website
The
eRA Commons website
got a face lift on April 30 when it launched its new site. Look for these new features:
- Screenshots of systems to help figure out process at a glance
- Commons/ASSIST log-in buttons moved to prominent location on upper right-hand corner of home page
- Hover drop-down menus on the navigation bar list inside contents
- New categories of information and updated ‘how-to’ content
Note:
URLs of website pages have changed; please change your favorite bookmarks (temporary redirects for frequently used pages are in place).
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Note This Change in Appendix A of the New NIH Omnibus:
The new omnibus was released May 7, 2019. There are two key changes regarding budgets. For Phase I the hard cap is now $252,131 and $1,680,897 for Phase II. Additionally, the Executive Level II pay salary cap has been increased to $192,300.
We recommend you contact the program manager for the institute of interest to confirm the budget cap for your research project.
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DARPA Pilots New Approach to BAAs
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has issued a BAA outside of DOD's recent SBIR 2019.2 and STTR 2019.B BAA. According to DARPA the changes was made to operate at "the pace of innovation" to provide game-changing capabilities to warfighters.
To that end, DARPA is piloting a new approach to advertise SBIR and STTR funding opportunities on a “just-in-time” basis, outside of the three pre-determined announcements issued at the DoD level. SBIR and STTR Opportunities (SBOs) will be announced via FedBizOpps under Solicitation Number HR001119S0035.
Click here
for more information and ask questions
here
The open period on the DARPA topics is now through June 4, and proposals are due July 3.
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Make a Note of it!
The Dept. of Defense SBIR/STTR website has a new web address so be sure to change your internet links to ensure you don't miss Funding Opportunities, topic releases, and latest Phase I and Phase II awards. Use this URL:
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HOW TO PROTECT YOUR SBIR/STTR TECHNOLOGY’S DATA RIGHTS
Do you understand your SBIR/STTR data rights and how to protect them? Learn what constitutes SBIR/STTR data (and what does not), what the government’s obligations are with regard to the handling your data, actions you need to take to protect your data rights, how civilian and military protections differ, and how all of this information can be critical in your efforts to move your technology to Phase III commercialization.
WATCH IT NOW
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"...Now that I have had the weekend to catch up on my sleep I would like to take this time to thank Shannon for helping me develop and submit my 90-page NIH Fast-Track proposal. This was my first time submitting for any grant so I had no idea what I would be in for. There were so many moving parts to this application and Shannon understands every detail of this process exceptionally well and she helped guide me through the process and answered every one of my questions along the way..."
John Pikramenos
Kymergy Innovations, LLC
New York
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About BBCetc
BBC Entrepreneurial Training & Consulting, LLC (BBCetc) works with technology-based entrepreneurs and companies on strategies to advance their R&D efforts to commercialization. The BBCetc team is nationally recognized for its success in helping clients secure federal funding through SBIR and STTR programs. Services include research grant assistance, SBIR/STTR training and proposal development assistance, and grants and contract management.
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