Limited Competition: NIH Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hubs (REACH) (SB0 Clinical Trial Optional)

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), including all of its Institutes and Centers, plans to publish a Notice of Funding Opportunity inviting eligible colleges, universities, and nonprofit organizations to apply for the NIH Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (REACH) program. The REACH program helps move promising biomedical discoveries from academic research into real-world products that can improve patient care and public health. Through this opportunity, NIH plans to fund five new academic entrepreneurship hubs. These hubs will support researchers by providing early-stage funding, technical and business resources, and mentorship in product development and commercialization. The hubs will focus on high-priority technologies that align with NIH's mission. Together, the funded hubs will form a technology development consortium that will help:

• Identify the most promising academic biomedical technologies;
• Fund early product-development work, such as feasibility studies, prototypes, and proof-of-concept studies;
• Provide access to expertise in science, regulation, reimbursement, business, law, and project management; and
• Offer entrepreneurship training and hands-on commercialization experience.

Public-private partnerships and non-federal matching funding will be important to the program's success. The five awardees will build on lessons learned from previous REACH hubs and support the goals of the Phase 0 Proof of Concept Partnership pilot program, as authorized by the 2011 SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act (P.L. 112-81 Section 5127) and extended through fiscal year 2031 under the Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act (P.L. 119-83). The REACH program also supports federal research and development priorities, including preparing the 21st-century workforce, moving technologies from the lab to the marketplace, strengthening partnerships among government, industry, and academia, and addressing local health needs, particularly in medically...