The TIP program is designed to address societal challenges by supporting technology innovation in areas of critical national need. Individual companies can receive up to $3M over 3 years, which can support up to 50% of the direct costs of an R&D project. Joint ventures involving two or more companies, universities, or research laboratories are eligible for even larger awards, up to a maximum of $9M over 5 years (again with a minimum 50% of cost sharing).
Last year, nanotechnology companies responded enthusiastically to the TIP program call for advanced manufacturing concepts. They were rewarded with 6 funded projects in the application area Process Scale Up, Integration and Design - Nanomaterials.
NIST expects to give out approximately $25M in new awards in the 2010 TIP competition. The overall theme is Manufacturing and Biomanufacturing: Materials Advances and Critical Processes. There are three subtopics:
- Process scale-up, integration, and design for materials advances
- Predictive modeling for materials advances and materials processing
- Critical process advances related to the manufacturability of materials and the manufacture of both new and existing products
Nanomaterials are called out as an area of interest in all three areas (along with superalloy and smart materials, composites, ceramics, and glasses).
For more detailed information on the 2010 NIST call for TIP proposals, all of which are available on the TIP website, see the following:
