SSTI Digest

A Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for a new artificial intelligence-focused Manufacturing USA institute is now available on Grants.gov. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which posted the NOFO on July 22, anticipates funding of up to $70 million over five years, subject to the availability of federal funds, according to their press release. Concept papers are due Sept. 30. Applicants with the best concepts will be invited to submit full proposals. The notice on Grants.gov lists additional deadlines and other important dates.

The five-year-old NSF Convergence Accelerator, which has funded nationwide research projects to address major societal challenges, is adding 10 “anchors” to focus on regional challenges. The regional anchor organizations will engage in the same solution development for underserved, underrepresented organizations and communities as the current national program. However, as part of the regional expansion, NSF aims to reach more local communities to help solve challenges that are especially meaningful to a particular region.

NSF has released data on nearly 300 letters of intent (LOIs) submitted to the NSF Regional Innovation Engines program by lead organization applicants. The data is meant to enable applicant teams to connect and potentially collaborate before the preliminary proposal deadline on Aug. 6, 2024, according to a press release from NSF.

The Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs (Tech Hubs) and National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Regional Innovation Engines (Engines) programs require regions to advance a critical technology area that already has traction in their region. However, identifying such critical technologies might be challenging as applicants face deadlines, such as the August 6, 2024, NSF Engines preliminary proposal deadline and the subsequent February 11, 2025, full proposal deadline. Fortunately, SSTI recently updated a data tool comprised of two interactive visuals and a downloadable data file that can assist in identifying the critical technologies in an applicant’s geographic location.

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) has released a new pilot map with data on over 3,300 awards nationwide managed by TIP starting from fiscal year 2023. The directorate, according to its press release, hopes to transform the pilot into a “one-stop hub to find one another, facilitate partnerships, and build regional coalitions and innovation ecosystems” by adding additional data and features over time.

The U.S. Department of Commerce recently issued a Notice of Intent (NOI) to open a competition for new research and development (R&D) activities to accelerate domestic capacity for semiconductor advanced packaging.​ As part of CHIPS for America, the National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program plans to invest up to $1.6 billion to fund innovation in five R&D areas related to semiconductor advanced packaging. ​

Natcast, the nonprofit entity that operates the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) Consortium, recently launched the NSTC Workforce Partner Alliance (WFPA) program. ​The program seeks to address workforce challenges in the U.S. semiconductor industry by supporting projects that close skills and labor market gaps for researchers, engineers, and technicians in semiconductor design, manufacturing, and production. ​The WFPA will fund between four and ten projects with budgets between $500,000 to $2 million per award. While not required, proposals that include complementary funding or leverage public resources will receive strong preference.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently announced plans to launch a 7(a) Working Capital Pilot (WCP) Program later this year. The program will offer a lines of credit, made by 7(a) lenders and backed by the SBA. It is designed to give greater flexibility than a traditional term loan. This pilot program, according to an SBA press release, will include both a “transaction-based” and “asset-based” model, allowing borrowers to leverage sales or assets to access working capital. Depending on the details of the capital structure that are revealed when the program launches, these models may enable both newer technology companies that have sales but few assets and legacy companies that have assets but insufficient cashflow to invest in new technologies with the opportunity to access financing through SBA’s popular 7(a) vehicle.

House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers recently published Reforming the National Institutes of Health: Framework for Discussion. The blueprint calls for reducing the number of NIH institutes and centers (ICs) from 27 to 15, largely by merging some of them. The reorganization and proposed funding levels are illustrated in Figure 1.

Note: This brief quasi-book review/book synopsis is the first item in an experimental new section of SSTI’s newsletter, potentially joining other regular sections such as Useful Stats, Fed/Leg News, State News, Member Updates, and Recent Research. Its periodic continuation after the contributions we present over the summer will depend on feedback from our members and Digest readers. Comments may be shared with skinner @ ssti.org

The Economic Development Administration today announced $504 million in funding across 12 Tech Hubs, the culmination of a 14-month selection process to choose the first regions funded for implementation projects under the program. The 12 Hubs receiving implementation awards are listed in the graphic below.

The Small Business Administration recently released a new solicitation for the Regional Innovation Clusters initiative. Unlike what SBA has done in recent years, and returning to the program’s roots, all nonprofit organizations are eligible to apply alongside for-profit firms. In a change from prior solicitations, proposals must include whether the work will support an emerging or mature cluster. The timeline is relatively tight: submissions are due July 26.