Congress established the Small Business Innovation Research / Technology Transfer (SBIR and STTR) programs to support scientific excellence and technological innovation through the investment of Federal research funds in critical American priorities to build a strong national economy.  Federal agencies with large research and development budgets set aside a small fraction of their funding for competitions among small businesses only. Small businesses that win awards in these R&D programs keep the rights to any technology developed and are encouraged to commercialize the technology. DOE’s Phase 1 Release 1 includes funding for topics at the Offices of:

• Advanced Scientific Computing Research
• Basic Energy Sciences
• Biological and Environmental Research
• Fusion Energy Sciences
• High Energy Physics
• Nuclear Physics

The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering oversees the Department of Defense (DoD) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs. These competitive programs are Congressionally authorized set-asides established to encourage domestic small businesses to engage in research and development with the potential for commercialization. The SBIR/STTR programs support scientific excellence and technological innovation through the investment of Federal research funds in critical American priorities to build a strong national economy and accelerate capabilities to the warfighter. ​Find out what topics are currently open or learn when the next solicitation will be available.

This funding opportunity will invest appropriations of $45 million over three years for development of new solar photovoltaics (PV) technologies to improve U.S. domestic manufacturing and competitiveness and secure our domestic energy supply chains. Topic 1 is focused on demonstration activities that support the domestic silicon PV module supply chain. Topic 2 is focused on RD&D and product development for dual-use PV with the aim of developing these market segments in the United States and increasing deployment. In both Topic Areas, SETO funding aims to retire technical, business, and market risks of solar hardware to validate pathways to commercial success through customer engagement and trials.

Sea Grant and the NOAA Climate Program Office seek to establish programs aimed at at placing people across the country into good jobs that advance climate resilience and assisting employers in developing a 21st century workforce that is climate literate, informed by climate resilience, and skilled at addressing consequent challenges. NOAA envisions making between 10-20 awards under this competition, at amounts ranging from $500,000-$10 million each. NOAA expects projects to range in duration from 24 months to 48 months, beginning no earlier than August 1, 2024. This opportunity is open to state, tribal, territorial and local governments, institutions of higher education, and non-profit organizations in coastal states or territories. Resources from NOAA’s Climate Program Office, Office for Coastal Management, and National Sea Grant Office and its partners will be available to provide technical assistance to applicants and recipients to support these innovative efforts.

The grant program will help eligible communities handle expenses related to incidents (Presidentially declared disasters) that damaged water systems. Funds can be used to develop water infrastructure system capacity and resiliency to reduce or eliminate long term risks from hazards resulting from (Presidentially declared) disasters during calendar year 2022. For the purposes of this program, the term “water” refers to all water resource infrastructure, including drinking water, wastewater, storm drainage, and solid waste facilities.

The competition will award up to 60 grants to states, Tribal governments, municipalities, and eligible nonprofits to expand access to residential and community solar projects, storage, and enabling upgrades in LI/DAC in low-income and disadvantaged communities. Funds may be used for both financial and technical assistance, and this may include subgrants, rebates, subsidies, other incentive payments, or loans.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, is seeking proposals from the small businesses to develop novel environmental technologies in the following topics areas: clean and safe water, air quality and climate, land, homeland security, circular economy/sustainable materials, and safer chemicals.

The program consists of competitive grants or sales incentives to eligible entities for activities designed to expand the sale and use of higher blends of ethanol and biodiesel fuels by expanding the infrastructure for renewable fuels derived from U.S. agricultural products. The program is also intended to encourage a more comprehensive approach to market higher blends by sharing the costs related to building out biofuel-related infrastructure. Funding is made available to fueling stations, fuel distribution facilities, convenience stores, hypermarket fueling stations, fleet facilities, and similar entities with capital investments.

The program will support projects to improve and expand the surface transportation infrastructure in rural areas to increase connectivity, improve the safety and reliability of the movement of people and freight, and generate regional economic growth and improve quality of life. Eligible projects for Rural grants include highway, bridge, and tunnel projects that help improve freight, safety, and provide or increase access to an agricultural, commercial, energy, or transportation facilities that support the economy of a rural area.

The program awards competitive grants for multimodal freight and highway projects of national or regional significance to improve the safety, efficiency, and reliability of the movement of freight and people in and across rural and urban areas. Projects will also generate economic benefits, reduce congestion, enhance resiliency, and hold the greatest promise to eliminate supply chain bottlenecks and improve critical freight movements.

The program will provide grants on a competitive basis to support multijurisdictional or regional projects of significance that may also cut across multiple modes of transportation. Eligible projects could include highway, bridge, freight, port, passenger rail, and related public transportation projects of national and regional significance. DOT will award approximately 50 percent of funding to projects greater than $500 million in cost, and approximately 50 percent to projects greater than $100 million but less than $500 million in cost.

The Rural and Tribal Assistance Pilot Program makes $10 million available over five years to provide states, local governments, and tribal governments with grants to support project development leading to future applications to DOT credit or grant programs. The grants can support the hiring of staff or the procurement of expert firms to provide financial, technical, and legal assistance to help advance infrastructure projects, with development-phase activities, and information regarding innovative financing best practices and case studies.