Notice Number: NOT-GM-17-021
Key Dates
Release Date: September 20, 2017
Estimated Publication Date of Announcement: November 2017
First Estimated Application Due Date: January 2018
Earliest Estimated Award Date: August 2018
Earliest Estimated Start Date: September 2018
None
Issued by
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Purpose
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) intends to publish a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to provide opportunities for eligible U.S. small business concerns (SBCs), in collaboration with academic partners in Institutional Development Award (IDeA) states (https://www.nigms.nih.gov/Research/CRCB/IDeA/Pages/default.aspx), to conduct research to develop, implement, and test a comprehensive program for promoting biomedical entrepreneurship, technology (tech) transfer, management, small business finance, and other business skills needed to move basic discoveries and technologies out of the lab and into commercial products that improve patient care and enhance human health. The intent of the FOA is to create one shared regional tech transfer accelerator hub in each of the four IDeA regions (Central, Northeastern, Southeastern and Western). These accelerator hubs will act as regional consortia to provide infrastructure and build an entrepreneurial culture at the IDeA institutions in that region. The goal of this FOA is to create a sustainable culture of biomedical entrepreneurship within IDeA states.
Currently, the states/commonwealth that are in the four IDeA regions, include: Central (Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota); Northeastern (Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont); Southeastern (Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina and West Virginia) and Western (Alaska, Idaho, Hawaii, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada and Wyoming).
This Notice is being provided to allow potential applicants sufficient time to develop meaningful collaborations between SBCs and academic partners in the IDeA states.
The FOA is expected to be published in fall 2017 with an expected application due date in early winter 2018.
This FOA will utilize the UT2 activity code for Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Fast-Track applications. Details of the planned FOA are provided below.
Research Initiative Details
The Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Program helps broaden the geographical distribution of biomedical research funding and often serves rural and medically underserved populations. The 23 IDeA states and Puerto Rico have historically had disproportionately few Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards.
For this FOA, the SBC partner is expected to have substantial experience in all aspects of technology transfer, have knowledge of development of training materials, web sites, etc. Each hub will provide consulting services to the faculty and staff of colleges and universities in IDeA states in the region, helping them establish small businesses based on their research or move their intellectual property into existing small businesses. In addition, they will also help universities in each IDeA region set up the infrastructure they need for effective and efficient technology transfer and to promote entrepreneurship. It is expected that the hub staff will travel across the IDeA region to hold workshops, give seminars and consult with academic investigators, postdoctoral fellows and students about the design and conduct of product definition studies and the commercialization processes required for transitioning a technology out of academic labs to the private sector (either as startup small businesses or licensing opportunities).
It is expected that this initiative will leverage the funded IDeA programs (IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE), Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) and IDeA Clinical and Translational Research IDeA-CTR) and other NIH-funded programs such as Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hubs (REACH) and NIH Centers for Accelerated Innovations (NCAI), in these efforts.
The goal of this FOA is to create a sustainable culture of biomedical entrepreneurship within IDeA states. The product of the funded research will be educational tools i.e., curricula, texts, webinars resulting from the development and testing of research accelerator models. It is anticipated that the educational tools developed under this FOA will be licensed or sold to other institutions that wish to create accelerators hubs.
Institutional Commitment: While non-Federal matching funds are not required, it is expected that institutional leadership (e.g., President or Dean) must demonstrate evidence of strong and specific institutional commitment from each of the partner institutions, outlining the resources and facilities that will be committed by the institution to support and sustain the regional Hub throughout the period of funding and beyond.
APPLICATIONS ARE NOT BEING SOLICITED AT THIS TIME.
Inquiries
Please direct all inquiries to:
Krishan K. Arora, Ph.D.
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Telephone: 301-594-3900
Email: [email protected]
Joseph Gindhart, Ph.D.
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Telephone: 301-594-0828
Email: [email protected]
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