Funding-USDA-NSF
Announce Competition to Help Small Businesses Achieve Economic Success; July 22,
2016
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WASHINGTON, May 26, 2016 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA)
National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the National Science
Foundation (NSF) today announced the availability of $200,000 in prize
funding to provide entrepreneurship training to small businesses through the Innovations
in Food and Agricultural Science and Technology (I-FAST) pilot program.
“This pilot program will provide entrepreneurs the educational tools to
turn their innovations into economically viable products, services and
technology,” said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. “This additional investment
helps accelerate NIFA-funded research from the laboratory into the industry.” NIFA is partnering with the NSF
Innovation Corps (I-Corps) to provide an entrepreneurial immersion course
and training to prize winners. I-Corps prepares scientists and engineers to
extend their focus beyond the laboratory and broadens the impact of
basic-research projects. This prize competition is intended to spur the translation of fundamental
research to the market place, encourage collaboration between academia and
industry, and train faculty, students and other researchers to better
understand innovation and entrepreneurship principles. Four teams will be selected and receive $50,000 each. For six months,
teams will participate in educational programs with NSF I-Corps awardees,
learning how to achieve an economic impact with their projects. Pre-applications are due on July 22 with full applications due Sept. 2.
Winners will be notified on Sept. 23, and names will be posted to NIFA’s website. This pilot program is being implemented under the America Competes Act,
which uses www.challenge.gov
as the hub for all notifications of prize competitions across the federal
government. See www.challenge.gov
for more information. NIFA and its programs provide funding to small businesses to support high
quality, advanced concept research related to important scientific problems
and opportunities in agriculture that could lead to significant public
benefits. Since 2009, NIFA has invested in and advanced innovative and
transformative initiatives to solve societal challenges and ensure the
long-term viability of agriculture. NIFA's integrated research, education,
and extension programs, supporting the best and brightest scientists and
extension personnel, have resulted in user-inspired, groundbreaking
discoveries that are combating childhood obesity, improving and sustaining
rural economic growth, addressing water availability issues, increasing food
production, finding new sources of energy, mitigating climate variability,
and ensuring food safety. To learn more about NIFA’s impact on agricultural
science, visit www.nifa.usda.gov/impacts, sign up for email updates,
or follow us on Twitter @usda_NIFA, #NIFAimpacts. # USDA is an equal opportunity
provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA,
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of the Assistant Secretary for
Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Stop 9410, Washington, DC
20250-9410, or call toll-free at (866) 632-9992 (English) or (800) 877-8339
(TDD) or (866) 377-8642 (English Federal-relay) or (800) 845-6136 (Spanish
Federal-relay).
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