Biotech and Chemical Technologies

Proposal Due Dates: June 10 and December 4, 2008

Please direct inquiries for all Biotechnology and Chemical Technology topics to the cognizant Program Manager: F. C. Thomas Allnutt (tallnutt@nsf.gov) 703-292-5332.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program seeks innovative and state-of-the-art, high-risk, high-potential research proposals in the areas of Biotechnology and Chemical Technology (BC). These proposals should develop technologies that provide economic and technological benefits that will motivate their successful adoption in the commercial marketplace. Advanced technology in this area can be divided into four allied disciplines: biotechnology, chemical technology, environmental technology, and manufacturing innovation. These subtopics range across a broad swath of science and engineering including bioprocessing, fermentation, biomaterials, bioproducts, bioremediation, bioenergy, sustainable technologies, solutions to environmental problems, energy, transportation and fuels, materials, separations, catalysts, reaction engineering, and manufacturing innovation. Innovative technologies that are not suggested explicitly in the subtopics below may still be of interest if they fall generally within one of the subtopics. Emphasis will be placed on the novelty of the technology, its impact in the marketplace, and the company risk mitigation NSF funding would provide.

The 200-word project summary discussing the intellectual merit and broader impact must specifically answer the following questions: What is the problem to be solved? How will the problem be solved and what is the innovation in the proposed approach? Why is your solution better than the competitive technologies? Who is going to buy your solution? Who are the other key players? If these answers are not addressed, the proposal may be returned without review. Proposals must address the potential for commercialization of the innovation and how it would lead ultimately to revenue generation. It is important that the proposed technology increase the competitive capability of industry, is responsive to societal needs, and is sensitive to solving "real" problems driven by critical market requirements. There is considerable overlap between the subtopics and proposers should pay attention to the areas indicated under each subtopic to assist the program in placing these proposals on review panels.

Proposals that focus on topics such as software coding, protocols, computing architectures, and etc. leading to a final product that is a software package or licensable software IP, are not appropriate for submission under the BC topic but should be submitted under the Software and Services (SS) topic. Proposals whose primary innovation is an electronic device or system should submit under Electronics, Components, and Engineering Systems (EL).

Mandatory Requirement: Letters of Support for the Technology

Inclusion of letters of support for the technology within the proposal is mandatory for proposals being submitted to this solicitation. Letters of support act as an indication of market validation for the proposed innovation and add significant credibility to the proposed effort. Letters of support should demonstrate that the company has initiated dialog with relevant stakeholders (potential customers, strategic partners or investors) for the proposed innovation and that a real business opportunity may exist should the technology prove feasible. The letter(s) must contain affiliation and contact information for the signatory stakeholder.

Note: If appropriate letters of support are not contained within the proposal, the proposal will be considered non-responsive and may be returned without review for failing to fall within the scope of the solicitation.

Importance of Communication with Program Officer

A company planning to submit a proposal to one of this solicitation's subtopics is strongly encouraged to describe the innovation and business opportunity to the cognizant program officer and receive feedback prior to proposal submission (see above for contact information). You may contact the program officer at any time before the submission deadline. Note, however, that communication with the program officer will become increasingly difficult as the deadline nears.

Proposals must address one of the subtopics that are outlined below. Proposals that are not responsive to the subtopics outlined below will be returned without review. When submitting a proposal to the BC Topic, code the proposal to the corresponding subtopic under which you are submitting the proposal, e.g., B.3, for proposals in the area of "Biomaterials and Bioinspired Materials." In addition, use the code as the first item in the key words/phrases portion of the Project Summary of your proposal.

In the current solicitation, proposals in the following subtopics will be accepted:

A. Biotechnology
B. Chemical Technology

A. BIOTECHNOLOGY

A.1 Agricultural Biotechnology: Such applications include but are not limited to pathogen and toxin diagnostics, genetic engineering, methods to reduce the use of fertilizer and/or increase efficiency of plant nutrient assimilation.

A.2 Food Biotechnology: Such applications include but are not limited to real-time methods for detection of pathogens and toxins in the food, novel tracking methods, improved sterilization methods.

A.3 Environmental Biotechnology: Such applications include but are not limited to methods to reduce human ecological and environmental impacts, microbial contamination sensing and control, removal of toxic compounds for human and animal safety, point of use water treatment, midstream wastewater treatment technologies, treatment of runoff, environmental compatibility and sustainability, pathogen and toxin diagnostics, control of exotic diseases, nanobiotechnology solutions, and water treatment.

A.4 Marine and Aquatic Biotechnology: Such applications include but are not limited to improved or novel marine species hatchery technologies, replacement of marine sourced materials in feeds, disease control, diagnostics, vaccines, alternative technologies, sensors and biosensors; marine environment extremophilic enzymes for extreme temperatures.

A.5 Real world sensors and biosensors: Such applications include but are not limited to real-time sensors, microbial component-based sensors, sensors for monitoring fluxes of metabolite, nanobiotechnology-based sensors, real-time and/or in vivo real-time tracking of microbial contamination in wastewater treatment, biomedical sensors, and disease and toxin monitoring.

A.6 Environmental technologies: Such applications include but are not limited to technologies related to the improvement of the environment, monitoring of pollutants, and decreasing the environmental impact of humans on the planet.

A.7 Bioenergy technologies: Such applications include but are not limited to biomass conversion biorefinery innovation and integration, novel methods such as novel marine, plant, algal and microbial bioenergy sources, hydrogen production, , and methods for distributed bioenergy production. metabolic engineering and/or breeding for production of co-products into biomass crops of interests, characterization processing of biofuels waste streams, alternative energy efficient separation techniques including membranes, adsorption, and alternatives to distillation. Non-biological approaches should have bio-sourced feedstocks such as conversion of biodiesel products into useful products, biodiesel improvements, chemical or genetic modifications. Catalytic methods for biofuel production are also within the scope of this topic. Burning and pyrolysis are not included.

A.8 Biomanufacturing innovation: Such applications include but are not limited to, pathogen and toxin diagnostics, improved techniques for genetic engineering, bacterial and microbial biotech applications, biofouling, improved culture collections, processes that allow for real-time feedback and process enhancement for iterative learning.

A.9 Bio-based materials: Bio-based materials are not to be confused with bioinspired or biomaterials. Bio-based materials are those that are obtained from a biological source and are renewable in character. Such applications include but are not limited to chemicals and polymers from a bio-based feedstock, bio-based polymers and monomers, bioengineered plastics, biocomposites, bio-based building materials, renewable carbon feedstock base, bio-polyethylene, and the next generation of biochemicals from a renewable carbon feedstock.

A.10 Diagnostic Technologies: Such applications include but are not limited to non- or minimally-invasive disease diagnosis, detection and monitoring, detection agents, biomarker development, instrumentation, imaging techniques for localization and diagnosis of infectious events, disease specific assays, and point-of-care genetic testing for diseases.

A.11 Drug Delivery: Such applications include but are not limited to: improved devices and biological delivery through implanted tissues.

A.12 Tissue Engineering and Repair: Using innovative and novel biotechnological approaches to meet research challenges and market opportunities in tissue engineering and repair. Such applications including: artificial tissues, artificial blood vessels and small caliber grafts for small vessel replacement, and disease specific tissue engineering, stem cell based therapies.

A.13 Biofilms: Using innovative and novel biotechnological approaches to meet research challenges and market opportunities in biofilm manipulation and control including such applications as: Improved implants, anti-microbial materials or treatments for biofilm prevention/control (other than antibiotic coated implants), development of biofilm resistant trans-cutaneous device components, anti-biofouling technologies.

A.14 Biomedical Devices: Such applications include but are not limited to anti-thrombotic materials and devices, novel hemodynamic and physiological sensors, self-charging or non-invasively charged implantable devices, increased biocompatibility , and artificial sensory receptors.

A.15 Genomics, Proteomics, Metabolomics and Bioinformatics

A.16 Manufacturing innovation in biotechnology: Innovation in manufacturing processes for biotechnology and environmental products or technologies.

B. CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY

Note: This topic specifically excludes solar and wind energy proposals, which are covered under the EL topic and bioenergy proposals should be submitted in the Biotechnology subtopic above.

B.1 Energy Supply delivery and use: Such applications include but are not limited to direct conversion and utilization of thermal energy, electrochemical conversion and storage technologies, hydrogen storage, insulating materials.

B.2 Energy Transportation and fuels: Such applications include but are not limited to alternative fuel options, reduction of engine emissions, vehicle weight reduction, and NOx reduction.

B.3 Biomaterials and Bioinspired Materials: This specifically excludes bio-based materials. These should be submitted in the Biotechnology subtopic. Such applications include but are not limited to improved implants and biodevice coatings.

B.4 Engineered materials: Such applications include but are not limited to engineered materials and systems from the macro to nanoscale.

B.5 Materials for sustainability: These are novel materials that are meant to replace materials currently produced in a non-sustainable manner. Such applications include but are not limited to biodegradable materials, improved ability to recycle a material, and novel materials from recycled materials.

B.6 Separation technologies: Such applications include but are not limited to environmentally benign liquid and gas separations, critical and strategic metals, and fuel cell membranes.

B.7 Novel catalytic systems: Such applications include but are not limited to consumer products, chemical production, fuel cells.

B.8 Reactor engineering applications: Such applications include but are not limited to membrane reactor systems, supercritical fluid applications.

B.9 Chemical design and synthesis: Such applications include but are not limited to molecular level design, synthesis of novel molecules, and characterization techniques for chemical systems, surfaces or interfaces.

B.10 Manufacturing innovation in chemical technology: Specifically addresses innovation in the manufacturing processes for chemical technologies.