Advanced Manufacturing and Entrepreneurial Center grant (via Florida Department of Commerce) (Discontinued)

NC Biotech Small Business Research Loan-to-Grant Program is sponsored by North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Offers low-interest loans that convert to grants upon achieving in-state growth milestones, supporting early-stage life science R&D in North Carolina. The program supports research and development activities that advance commercially viable technologies and products, and business development activities intended to help the company position itself for investor funding or partnering opportunities. Strain engineering would fall under 'life sciences research, development, or manufacturing to develop a product or technology with commercial potential'.

AFWERX Specific Topic 26.BZ & 26.TZ Release 5 (SBIR/STTR) is sponsored by Department of the Air Force (AFWERX). This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) features SBIR & STTR topics with Direct-to-Phase II and Phase I opportunities seeking solutions in areas such as advanced computing and software, advanced materials, directed energy, hypersonics, microelectronics, integrated network systems-of-systems, trusted AI and autonomy, integrated sensing and cyber, quantum sciences, and advanced infrastructure & manufacturing.

Specific Topic 26.BZ & 26.TZ Release 5 (SBIR/STTR) is sponsored by Department of the Air Force (AFWERX). This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) release features 9 SBIR & STTR topics with Direct-to-Phase II and Phase I opportunities. It seeks solutions in advanced computing and software, advanced materials, directed energy, hypersonics, microelectronics, integrated network systems-of-systems, trusted AI and autonomy, integrated sensing and cyber, quantum sciences, and advanced infrastructure & manufacturing.

Biological Technologies is sponsored by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Biological Technologies Office (BTO). Supports revolutionary research leveraging biological properties/processes to advance national security and protect warfighters; excludes incremental improvements. Key focus areas include advanced machine learning and AI for biological data and systems, combat casualty care, human performance optimization, bio-inspired materials, sensors, manufacturing, agricultural, ecological, and environmental security, biosafety, biosecurity, next-generation surveillance, and biomedical and biodefense technologies. Foreign companies may be eligible as DARPA aims for international collaboration for national security.

NEA/AC Regional Annual Program Statement is sponsored by U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA/AC). This program supports innovative foreign assistance programs in select Near East countries that advance U.S. commercial diplomacy, economic, and security objectives. It emphasizes projects that promote trade and U.S. enterprise, leveraging foreign assistance as a tool to further U.S. interests and catalyze private capital through market-driven approaches. Eligible proposals may address sectors such as energy development and exports, trade facilitation, emerging technologies, critical infrastructure, regional economic integration, advanced manufacturing, and workforce training.

The EDA STEM Talent Challenge supports organizations creating and implementing STEM talent development strategies that complement their respective region's innovation economy, particularly in emerging and transformative sectors including artificial intelligence and machine learning, advanced manufacturing and robotics, space exploration, bioscience, quantum information science, and agricultural technologies. The program strengthens regional innovation ecosystems by building STEM talent training pipelines to help communities prepare for AI-driven economic shifts, with $25 million redirected specifically for workforce AI funding.