This booklet contains technical abstracts of Phase II awards made in Fiscal Year (FY) 1998 under the DOE Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. STTR research explores innovative concepts in important technological and scientific areas that can lead to valuable new technology and products. A brief description of potential commercial applications is given after each abstract. Individuals and organizations, including venture capital and larger industrial firms, with an interest in the research described in any of the abstracts are encouraged to contact the appropriate small business directly.
The STTR program was established in compliance with the Small Business Research and Development Enhancement Act of 1992, Public Law 102-564. Five Federal agencies, those with extramural research and development (R&D) budgets over $1 billion, have STTR programs. The agencies were required to set aside 0.05% of those budgets in FY 1994, 0.10% in FY 1995, and 0.15% in FY 1996 and thereafter, to fund STTR projects. (This amounted to about $4.6 million in FY 1998 for the Department of Energy.) Each agency solicits grant applications from small science- and technology-based U.S. firms (with 500 employees or less) in collaboration with a non-profit research institution (e.g., National laboratories and universities). Awards are made competitively to the small business with the collaborating research institution serving as a subcontractor. STTR supports innovative R&D and encourages conversion of that R&D into commercial applications of economic benefit to the Nation.
As prescribed in the legislation, the program is designed for implementation in three phases, with Phase I determining, insofar as possible, the scientific or technical merit and feasibility of ideas proposed for investigation. The period of performance in this initial phase is about nine months, and awards are limited to $100,000. Phase II is the principal research or R&D effort, and only FY 1997 Phase I awardees competed for Phase II awards of up to $500,000 in FY 1998 for work to be performed in a period of up to two years. In Phase III, commercial applications of the research or R&D are pursued using non-Federal funding or, alternatively, Phase III may involve follow-on non-STTR Federal contracts for products or services desired by the Government.
The STTR program enables DOE to obtain effective, innovative solutions to important problems through the collaboration of technology-based small businesses with non-profit research institutions. We expect that the private sector participants will have the commercial incentive to pursue the resulting technology and bring it to the marketplace.