Funding

$1.1 Million in ED Grants Available to Ed Tech Companies

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 02/06/20

The U.S. Department of Education has $1.1 million in grants available to for-profit ed tech companies. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program awards funding to organizations for "the research, development and evaluation of commercially viable educational technology products." Funding is made available in two phases: up to $200,000 for prototype development and evaluation in the first phase, and up to $900,000 for "full-scale" development of the product and evaluation in the second phase. Applications for the first phase are due by March 3, 2020.

Those projects that have been funded have introduced numerous forms of education innovation, including gaming, adaptive assessments, virtual and augmented reality, 3D-printing, simulations, virtual worlds, AI adaptive tutors, data dashboards and assistive technologies. All have gone through rigorous levels of research with the expectation that they'll be eventually be commercialized.

Proposals are accepted in three areas: education products for grades pre-K-16, supporting student learning, teacher instruction and classroom management; special education products for pre-K-12; and products for school administration for K-12.

To learn more about the current funding program, visit the Small Business Innovation Research site. The application is available here on the federal contracting site.