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NOAA’s SBIR Program Benefits 35 U.S. Small Businesses September 23, 2021 NOAA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program recently awarded approximately $10.7 million in grants to 35 small businesses. These awards fund the development of innovative technologies that support NOAA’s mission and the U.S. economy. This year, NOAA granted 19 Phase I and 16 Phase II SBIR awards. The goals of the SBIR program are to stimulate technological innovation, strengthen the role of small businesses in meeting federal research and development needs, encourage participation by socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses, and increase private sector commercialization of innovations derived from federal research and development funding. Small businesses apply to participate in NOAA’s SBIR program during annual notices of funding opportunities. Grant proposals are reviewed by technical experts within and outside of NOAA, and are evaluated based on their scientific merit, commercialization potential, and alignment with NOAA’s mission.  The Phase I awards will support feasibility and proof of concept work for initial development of innovative technologies in topic areas including citizen science and STEM education, uncrewed systems, artificial intelligence, genetic research (‘omics), and blue economy. Small businesses use Phase I support to establish the technical merit, feasibility, and commercial potential of their proposed technology. NOAA Phase I awards are funded at a maximum of $150,000 over 6 months. The list of FY21 awarded companies and their project titles include: InferLink Corporation Auto-Transcription for Citizen Science Radmantis LLC Adopt existing technologies for improved seafood production and to better feed a growing world Tridentis Advanced Marine Vehicles LLC Enhanced Aquaculture Monitoring Live Advantage Bait LLC Rapid diagnostic testing for marine velvet disease, Amyloodinium ocellatum: a potential game changer for disease prevention and economic gain for fisheries and aquaculture Areté Associates Infrared Polarimetric Wave Imaging (I-PWI) for Passive Remote Sensing of Sea State Swift Engineering Inc. A Modular Water Quality Observation System to Accelerate the Blue Economy Mimetics LLC Yeast-Based Biosensors for Detecting Pathogenic Bacteria in Aquaculture Systems Hummingbird Nano Inc. Pressure based microfluidics to increase the speed, automation, and portability of ELISA for microcystin detection Synthetik Applied Technologies LLC DeepSpace-AI- A Deep-Learning Based Offshore Monitoring System Using Satellite Imagery Cell Matrix Corporation Participatory Sensor Networks for Marine Navigation Elder Research Inc. HABSSED: Harmful Algal Bloom Surveillance by Sequencing of Environmental DNA Sunburst Sensors LLC pHyter: An Oceanographic Tool for Citizen Science and STEM Education International Association of Virtual Organizations (IAVO) Inc. Setac: Enhancing Usability of Archived Weather Data in the Digital Age Tampa Deep Sea Xplorers LLC Tampa Deep Sea Xplorers Compact Low Cost AUV Platform for Next Generation Seafloor and Water Column 3D Imaging Sensors Maritime Applied Physics Corporation TALONS for Marine Mammal Detection Toyon Research Corporation Detecting and Classifying Marine Mammals in Infrared Video Using AI Syntro Tek Corporation Smartphone Water Quality Monitoring Platform for Increasing Public Engagement StratoSolutions Inc. Stratospheric HAPS for enhancing societal resilience to extreme weather Nearview LLC AI Model for Automated Detection and Mapping of Intertidal Vegetation Phase II is an opportunity for high-performing small businesses to expand on successful Phase I results. FY21 Phase II SBIR awards will support further research and development for projects in topic areas including weather service improvement and evolution, next-generation NOAA platforms, next-generation observations and modeling systems, aquaculture, and recreational and commercial fisheries. NOAA Phase II awards are funded at a maximum of $500,000 over 2 years. The list of NOAA Phase II awardees and their projects titles include: SafetySpect Inc. Rapid detection of fish species and quality in the marketplace Creare LLC Low Cost Ocean Temperature Profile Sensing Shellfish Solutions Inc. Tide to Table Traceability and Marketing System CFD Research Corporation Weather Risk Information and Impacts for Schools Systems Kit Charles River Analytics Inc. Semi-autonomous Capabilities for the Operation of Uncrewed Teams (SCOUT) CD3, General Benefit Corporation SBIR Phase II: Continuous eDNA Monitoring for Early Detection of Aquaculture Diseases Aerodyne Research Inc. Automated Monitoring of VOCs with a Compact Gas Chromatography-Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometer (GC -Vocus) Cruyningen, Izak van dba LineSpect Aircraft Detection 360 Camera and Microphone Array Hydronalix Inc. NOAA Aerielle SONAR UAS Lynntech Inc. Rapid, Simple Diagnostic for Pathogens in Marine Aquaculture CVision AI Inc. Automated Filet Identification Azavea Inc. Advancing Flood Extent Delineation Modeling Using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Data Kraenion Labs LLC Machine Learning for Risk Assessment using Satellite and Aerial Imagery AAPlasma LLC Non-Equilibrium Short-Pulsed Discharge for Removal of Antibiotics and Pathogens from Water used in Aquaculture Facilities Innovim LLC Next Generation Observation and Modeling Systems DiveViz LLC Developing a Visibility Predictive Model using Crowdsourced Data Additional information about NOAA SBIR awards from FY21 and previous years, including abstracts of successful proposals and comments on anticipated results, can be found here. The SBIR Program at NOAA is located within the Technology Partnerships Office (TPO). For more information on the SBIR Program and how to apply, visit the NOAA SBIR website. To stay connected with the NOAA SBIR program and to learn about upcoming events, workshops, and requests for proposals, follow us on Twitter @NOAAinnovate and join the NOAA SBIR mailing list by emailing NOAA.SBIR@noaa.gov with the subject “subscribe”.