The peer review process is the fundamental way that NIH, NSF and other granting agencies assess the merit of submitted proposals.
The agencies solicit peer reviewers by either contacting the Principal Investigators of funded grants, or by self-nomination.
If you are an applicant seeking funding and want insight into the review process to increase your own chances of success, go ahead and nominate yourself as a reviewer! Here are the details.
The new reauthorization act will soon allow venture capital-backed companies to compete for SBIR/STTR funding. So now is the time to begin thinking about grant topics.
The SBIR/STTR program
is a government program that hands out $2B each year to small businesses. Want to compete for a piece of that pie, but don’t know where to start?
Here is a set of questions on six different aspects of your application that you should think through before you begin your SBIR Adventure. Read the rest of this entry »
Courtesy of Flikr - Creative Commons
The new SBIR/STTR reauthorization bill has passed and now allows venture capital-backed companies to apply for SBIR/STTR funding (see what the SBA has to say on implementation here). The company’s founders (and your Board) are telling you that the company needs to pursue non-dilutive funding. So, naturally, you are starting to think about SBIR and STTR grants.
First, you must remember that this is the government. Do you realize you need no less than SEVEN logins to apply for a grant? It is an alphabet soup of sorts – EIN/TID, DUNS, CCR (E-Biz POC), MPIN, AOR (grants.gov), eRA Commons (PI, SO, AO)…
Here’s a guide to help you make sense of all this.
On the last day of 2011, President Obama rang in the new year by signing the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA) HR.1540 into law. This bill gave the SBIR/STTR program a much-needed (OK, huge) breath of fresh air, extending the program into the second half of 2017.
Image - Flickr/Creative Commons
The April 5 deadline for the NIH Omnibus solicitation is approaching, so now is the time to start thinking about preparing your application. As a follow-up to a post last year on Five Tips for First-Time SBIR/STTR Grant Applicants, I have compiled four more tips that you should consider when assembling your application. Read the rest of this entry »
Courtesy: net_efekt
How many times have you been giving an important presentation and seen glaring errors on the big screen that you swear weren’t there before? Or read one of your emails and cringed because you didn’t give it a once-over before sending? Here, guest blogger (and veteran copywriter) Dan O’Sullivan gives us a few tips on self-editing.
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Like it or not, most of us have to spend at least part of our workday writing. You may be carefully crafting a presentation you’ve been asked to give or just dashing off a few emails over morning coffee.
If whatever it is you’re writing is important — and you don’t have the luxury of an editor watching your back — then you have to spend some time self-editing.
“But I’m not an editor,” I can hear you whine. “I hated English in high school, and I majored in biology in college,” you mutter as the sweat begins dripping down your brow. “If it involves anything more than running Spellcheck, I don’t think I can take it!” you scream.
It’s okay. Relax. You may never be a professional-level editor, but you can at least do a pretty good job. Start by following these five tips. And while you’re at it, always take a few minutes to read your writing aloud. That step alone will help you catch the most embarrassing errors. Read the rest of this entry »
Are you new to SBIRs? Need help navigating the application process? Or do you want to stay up-to-date on the latest SBIR/STTR news? In this blog post, I describe some of the resources available to SBIR/STTR applicants and grantees. Read the rest of this entry »
Can a U.S. research institution, such as a University, apply for an STTR? Or if a small business is collaborating with a University, do they have to apply for an STTR? Or can they write an SBIR?
If you’re wondering whether the grant you’d like to write is an SBIR or STTR, here are some facts to help you decide. Read the rest of this entry »
Homonyms… wow- now there’s a word I haven’t heard since grade school! Loosely defined, it means “similar-sounding words that mean different things”.
As a follow up to my “Three Tricks for Tricky Word Choices” post, I thought I’d expand on the topic to clarify four groups of homonyms that can be confusing. As a scientist – and not an English major – you may knowingly (or unknowingly) misuse these words when writing your next manuscript or grant. Read the rest of this entry »
“Innovation” is all the buzz these days. It has even made it’s way up to The Oval Office with the launch of Startup America. And recently, the NIH and other granting institutions finally jumped on the innovation bandwagon and made this a point that needs to be specifically addressed in your SBIR grant application. Not surprising: after all, it is the “I” in SBIR!
Many clients of The Isis Group struggle with this section of their SBIR/STTR grant application. This section deserves extra attention, and not only because it is part of your overall score. In a sense, you are really selling yourself, your institution, your know-how and your idea. How does a scientist put on a sales hat and write a compelling innovation section? Here are some tips. Read the rest of this entry »
The editors at The Isis Group often joke that we should put together a list of phrases used by scientists that should automatically be eliminated from every manuscript or grant that we edit. Well… here is a first draft of that list.
Most of these examples arise from excessive wordiness or the use of unnecessary phrases. Our advice: use the search function in your word processing program, find these phrases, and hit that delete or replace button. Read the rest of this entry »
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