Champaign, IL (Feb. 1, 2017) – Inspirit IoT, Inc. has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for $225,000 to conduct research and development (R&D) work on automating design and deployment of hardware for accelerated machine learning.
This improvement will simplify deployment of computer vision applications in automotive, sports and entertainment, consumer, robotics and machine vision, medical, and security/surveillance domains. This project will be a key enabling technology to support high-performance, energy efficient and scalable solutions. Wide deployment of customized computing in IoT applications will lead to substantial energy savings, and a corresponding reduction in carbon emissions, and a more sustainable growth model for deployment of intelligent sensor systems with thousands or millions of sensor nodes analyzing large volumes of input data.
“The National Science Foundation supports small businesses with the most innovative, cutting-edge ideas that have the potential to become great commercial successes and make huge societal impacts,” said Barry Johnson, Director of the NSF’s Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships. “We hope that this seed funding will spark solutions to some of the most important challenges of our time across all areas of science and technology.”
"This NSF project will help Inspirit IoT accelerate delivery of our technology through funding of development and commercialization assistance. We're excited to bring this technology to market and help accelerate machine learning solutions worldwide." -- Kyle Rupnow, CTO, Principal Investigator
Once a small business is awarded a Phase I SBIR/STTR grant (up to $225,000), it becomes eligible to apply for a Phase II grant (up to $750,000). Small businesses with Phase II grants are eligible to receive up to $500,000 in additional matching funds with qualifying third-party investment or sales.
NSF accepts Phase I proposals from small businesses twice annually in June and December. Small businesses with innovative science and technology solutions, and commercial potential are encouraged to apply. All proposals submitted to the NSF SBIR/STTR program undergo a rigorous merit-based review process.
To learn more about the NSF SBIR/STTR program, visit: www.nsf.gov/SBIR.
About the National Science Foundation's Small Business Programs: The National Science Foundation (NSF) awards nearly $190 million annually to startups and small businesses through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and societal impact. The non-dilutive grants support research and development (R&D) across almost all areas of science and technology helping companies de-risk technology for commercial success. The NSF is an independent federal agency with a budget of about $7 billion that supports fundam