Overview of Photovoltaics
Thrusts through SBIR/STTR
Program at NSF
Grace J. Wang
SBIR/STTR Program
Industrial Innovation and Partnerships
National Science Foundation
May 6th, 2010
Golden, CO
SBIR & STTR Programs
 SBIR = Small Business Innovation Research
 STTR = Small Business Technology Transfer
Research
Goal: to enable the
commercialization of high-risk, high
payoff technologies
2
NSF SBIR/STTR Innovation Model
Phase IB Third
Party
Investment
match
Phase IIB
Third Party
Investment
match
PHASE I
Feasibility
Research
$150k
PHASE II
Research
towards
Prototype
$500k
Private Sector
or
Non-SBIR
Investment
Product
Development to
Commercial
Market
Taxes
Federal Investment
3
NSF SBIR/STTR Investments in PV
Total $11 million
Technologies
69 projects
Investment (in million)
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1991-1995 1996-2000 2001-2005 2006-2010
Fiscal Year
4
5
4
3
2
1
r
TCO, Energy
harvesting,
manufacturing
technologies etc.
O
th
e
/D
SC
O
PV
ct
ur
ed
r
os
tru
th
e
in
Th
Na
n
Fi
in
Th
fil
m
-o
lm
-S
i
0
Si
Investment (in millions)
Photovoltaics Thrusts of NSF SBIR/STTR
Program (FY 2006-2010)
5
Some of Our Grantees…
nanosolar
Soltaix
MV Systems
6
Current Focus of NSF SBIR/STTR
Program in PV Technologies
 Manufacturing
 Reduce cost/Watt
 Improve manufacturability
 Develop sustainable PV materials & processes
 Commercialization
7
Challenges in Commercialization of PV
Technologies by Small Businesses
Innovations
Revenue
growth
Technology
Development
Business
Development
SBIR/STTR
3rd party
Seed
Funding
 Difficulty to access to resources
 Requirement of large capital investment
 Lack of business expertise
8
Effective Partnerships are Essential to the
Commercialization Success of Small
Businesses
Universities
/R&D labs
Equity
investors
Small
Business
Other
industrial
strategic
partners
Potential
customers
9
Commercialization Initiatives of
NSF SBIR/STTR Program
 Phase IB and Phase IIB Supplemental programs
 Motivate our grantees to initiate partnerships
 Over 20% of SBIR/STTR funding
 Innovation Accelerator and Match-maker programs
 Provide networking and mentoring
opportunities
10
More Effective Partnerships are Required to
Accelerate the PV Commercialization
Small
Businesses
Universitie
s/R&D labs
Large
Companies
Customers
(market)
11
Thank you
www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/sbir
12