NIST Awards Funding to Small Businesses to Advance Technologies for COVID Response, Manufacturing, Medical Diagnostics and More
 The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded more than $7 million in funding to 23 U.S. small businesses in 14 states through two separate efforts under its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Nearly $3.2 million in funding will go to help four businesses advance technologies in response to the coronavirus, and nearly $4 million will go to 19 businesses to advance technologies in manufacturing, privacy, medical diagnostics and more.
The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021 enabled the four awards for “research, development, and testbeds to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.” These awards were conducted under the SBIR Fast-Track Program, which uses a competitive selection process to award Phase I and Phase II programs simultaneously rather than through two separate competitions. This process allows Fast-Track awardees to conduct research and development of their technologies (Phase I), followed by development of a prototype (Phase II).
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