NIDCD SBIR Phase I
Supports United States. small businesses developing hearing, balance, and speech sensory technologies.
The NIDCD SBIR Phase I grant (R43) funds small US for-profit companies seeking to establish the technical merit and feasibility of a proposed research or research-and-development effort in areas within the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders' mission. NIDCD's seven programmatic areas include hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language, and its SBIR program explicitly prioritizes technologies addressing those domains. Specific priority areas for small business applicants include auditory implant technologies and research tools, gene transfer vectors for hearing restoration, drug delivery systems and rehabilitation technologies for balance disorders, assessment strategies and animal models for voice, speech, and language, and diagnostic tools and improved research techniques for taste and smell disorders.
Eligibility is limited to domestic small business concerns — US-based, majority US-owned for-profit companies — operating under the standard NIH Small Business Innovation Research requirements. Universities, nonprofits, and individual investigators may not apply directly, though STTR variants permit formal subcontracting with a research institution. Venture-capital-majority-owned companies may apply through NIH's opt-in certification pathway. Phase I awards are intended to establish feasibility and serve as a prerequisite for Phase II funding; NIDCD explicitly does not accept Phase IIb competing continuation SBIR applications. Standard NIH omnibus application due dates apply: January 5, April 5, and September 5 each year.
Applicants should contact Roger L. Miller, Ph.D. (301-402-3458) at NIDCD to confirm research topic relevance before investing in a full application. Administrative and business questions are directed to Samantha Tempchin, M.L.S. (301-435-0713). Application materials and current solicitations are available through the NIH SEED website at seed.nih.gov.
Phase I feasibility research for small businesses developing technologies in auditory implants, balance rehabilitation, voice and speech tools, and taste and smell diagnostics.
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