SBIR Tidbits

The week after a National Conference is usually quiet, as everyone's in recovery mode from the intensity of three-days of SBIR information overload. With only time to take a few deep breaths, however, we do have a number of opportunities to pounce upon.

The DOD released new SBIR topics on the 12th, and until December 7th you can talk to the Technical Point of Contact (called the TPOC) for clarification of what the DOD is really looking for. The SBIR Coach strongly recommends that you take advantage of this opportunity if you're planning to submit a proposal. Find the topics that you're interested via the search facility on the DOD SBIR website or on the SBIR Gateway's search engine.

Homeland Security has released its new SBIR topics. There are only seven of them, but they're quite interesting -- especially the one looking for techniques to break password protection and unlock hard drives on computers. See them on their Website or on the Gateway.

The NIH is holding a free Webinar next Tuesday (Nov 25th) on how to deal with their electronic submission process in anticipation of the iminent arrival of the December 5th proposal collection date. As if Grants.gov wasn't enough to deal with, they also have their eRA Commons. The two of them together are enough to make a PI cry! Sign up for the Webinar at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/307017968.

And speaking of Grants.gov, the DOE has been forced to extend the due date for its Phase I SBIR submissions to Monday the 24th, as Grants.gov was brought to its knees and refused to allow uploads for hours yesterday, causing many, including yours truly, to not make the DOE upload deadline. Something is going to have to be done to make this system work better. It's a huge distraction to the process, one that demeans the importance of what's being accomplished.

Just want to wish everyone a pleasant Thanksgiving break. But for those of us working on NIH and NSF proposals due the following week, I betcha there won't be a lot of rest!
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