As many of our Blog subscribers know, I recently had an opportunity to attend the 2015 NIH SBIR/STTR conference in Seattle. It offered unique insights into many of the processes that go in to submitting proposals and managing projects under the SBIR/STTR programs. These are insights that may not be emphasized or express themselves fully in the funding opportunity announcements.
For those of you who were not able to attend, the conference is a great opportunity to take advantage of one-on-one sessions with researchers within NIH looking to leverage small business innovation. Don’t forget that many conferences also provide one-on-one meetings with other programmatic experts. For example, the NIH DFAS has a one-on-one table available to discuss indirect rate cost issues.
For NIH SBIR/STTR participants, I found the DFAS Indirect Cost session very well organized and as thorough as it could be in the 50 minutes allotted for the session. Some “aha” moments include:
Also fascinating was a mock peer review of a Phase I proposal. This plus the sessions on Phase I and II proposal development explained many nuances and hints to make your proposal stand out.
The next NIH SBIR/STTR submittal is January 5, 2016, but participants were warned at the conference to submit by January 1, as a new NIH system for uploading and checking proposals, called ASSIST, is now deployed
If you are planning on submitting a Phase I proposal, now would be a good time to start. The following link contains presentation material from many of the conference sessions. Good Luck!
http://washingtonlifesciences.com/nih2015/
*As a reminder to all NIH/HHS grantees and contractors: not only does ReliAscent provide compliant accounting, outsourced CFO and contract/grant/management services, but we are also heavily involved in the SBIR/STTR and Government Grant and Contracting Community. Dave Donley is a member of a special committee on the Small Business Technology Council (SBTC), where he is currently working with the NIH to help communicate and resolve issues related to small business and NIH grants. As such, any of our clients that work with NIH/HHS, or potential grantees/contractors in general that have concerns or ideas related to improving relations between small business and the NIH/HHS, should please feel free to contact ReliAscent today, to learn more and have your voice heard.