Complementary to its main basic science efforts, GSP provides opportunities for the small business commercial sector to pursue parallel research objectives through the SBIR/STTR Program. DOE’s Office of Science participates in the SBIR/STTR process through its program offices to enable small business research, technology development, and commercialization across several topical areas that align with BSSD objectives. For example, plant and microbial genome engineering, synthetic biology and associated biotechnology, imaging science, and computational science are advancing at a rapid pace and can be addressed through SBIR/STTR projects. GSP therefore supports existing and new topics and technologies that have significant potential for transforming aspects of BER-relevant environmental science, bioenergy production, biomanufacturing, and the bioeconomy at large.
In addition to the series of annual topics offered under the SBIR/STTR FOA, GSP supports technology transfer opportunities to leverage tools and capabilities produced within the DOE laboratories, as well as seek opportunities within other DOE programs such as the Office of Technology Transitions via the Lab Partnering Service (LPS), Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP), and Energy Innovation Corps (Energy I-Corps). LPS is a portal that enables the searchability of licensable technology, development opportunities, and connections to expertise at the DOE national laboratories to rapidly cultivate external handoffs for technology commercialization. LEEP offers private entrepreneurs a chance to bring their technologies to DOE laboratories to leverage the available capabilities and expertise. In the biomanufacturing and biotechnology commercial sectors, BER user facilities and national laboratory expertise could be an excellent bridge for small businesses and startups to rapidly advance their technologies. Finally, the Energy I-Corps provides laboratory principal investigators with a mechanism for investigating market opportunities for commercializing technologies, as well as exploring the fundamentals of building a product that could become a business spinoff from the laboratory. These opportunities may assist SBIR awardees with additional avenues for commercializing technologies that will advance DOE science and research and serve the American people.