This booklet presents technical abstracts of Phase I 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. Brief comments on the commercial applications, as described by the awardee, are 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 Federal STTR Program
The STTR program, now completing its fifth year, was established in compliance with the Small Business Research and Development Enhancement Act of 1992, Public Law 102-564. Five Federal agencies have STTR programs - those with extramural research and development (R&D) budgets over $1 billion. In FY 1998, agencies were required to set aside 0.15% of those budgets to fund STTR projects. (This amounted to about $4.6 million 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. Phase I, nine months in duration with awards up to $100,000, is intended to determine the scientific or technical merit and feasibility of ideas proposed for investigation. In FY 1999, the Phase I awardees will compete for awards of up to $500,000 in Phase II, the principal research or R&D effort, 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; alternatively, Phase III may involve follow-on non-STTR Federal contracts for products or services desired by the Government.
The DOE STTR Program
DOE's FY 1998 annual solicitation contained 5 technical topics in biology and environmental research, basic energy sciences, fossil energy, fusion energy, and nonproliferation and national security.
The 14 Phase I projects described here were selected in a highly competitive process from a total of 66 grant applications received in response to the 1998 DOE annual STTR solicitation. The selections for awards were made on scientific and technical merit, as judged against the specific criteria listed in the solicitation. Conclusions were reached on the basis of reviews performed by personnel in DOE laboratories, universities, private industry, and government. Reviewers were selected in accordance with conflict of interest policies which, for example, did not permit a person affiliated with a research institution to review a grant application that named that research institution as a participant. It is expected that between one-third and one-half of the Phase I projects will be continued into Phase II.
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.