Discovery tool, not advice. Every figure is the published rule, not a decision on your case.

Grants

National Eye Institute SBIR/STTR Program

Status

Status not published

Omnibus/Parent SBIR and STTR grant applications have three standard receipt dates a year, customarily 5 January, 5 April and 5 September. Some institutes also issue targeted contract solicitations (PHS SBIR/STTR contract solicitation) once a year.

Open now

Amount

Not published

NIH SBIR Phase I awards are guided by the HHS/NIH budget ceiling (roughly $0.3m total costs for Phase I and $2.0m for Phase II in FY2026, inflation-adjusted annually). NIH routinely grants waivers above the ceiling for topics on its published waiver list. Awards are grants, not contracts, under the Omnibus/Parent solicitation.

Funder

National Eye Institute (NIH)

public · national

Deadline: cutoff — Omnibus/Parent SBIR and STTR grant applications have three standard receipt dates a year, customarily 5 January, 5 April and 5 September. Some institutes also issue targeted contract solicitations (PHS SBIR/STTR contract solicitation) once a year.

Your odds

Not published

This funder does not publish a success rate. We rank it using the rate observed across similar programmes and label it as an estimate rather than implying we know.

Effort

major

Major bid — written case, budget, possibly partners.

Who can apply

Up to 500 employees
small enterprises
Sectors: health
Stage: idea, pre_seed, seed
R&D activity required
Locally registered entity required

Vision, ophthalmic devices, imaging and therapeutics. US for-profit small business, 500 or fewer employees, majority US-owned; PI primarily employed by the company for SBIR. NIH permits majority ownership by multiple venture capital, hedge fund or private equity firms under a specific certification route.

How to apply

Register the company in SAM.gov, eRA Commons and Grants.gov
Contact the institute's SBIR/STTR programme officer to confirm topic fit
Prepare the research strategy, specific aims and budget
Submit through Grants.gov / ASSIST against the NIH Omnibus SBIR or STTR funding opportunity by a standard receipt date
Respond to summary statement; resubmit or proceed to award negotiation

What you will need

Specific aims and research strategy
Detailed budget and justification
Biosketches for PI and key personnel
SBC registration in the SBA Company Registry
eRA Commons registration

Apply on the funder's site

Source. https://seed.nih.gov/small-business-funding — checked 2026-08-14 · not human-checked