The Multimedia Technology Health Communication SBIR/STTR Program

Program Requirements

Phase II Grant and Contract Applicants

To improve product outcomes and enhance the potential for commercialization, all Phase II awardees are required to:

1. Include a “site administrator” as a consultant in the grant application. This individual should be able to tell you about infrastructure barriers that will limit the use of your proposed product and how to remove the barriers. If your product faces no infrastructure problems, state it in the application.
   
   
2. Devise a means of tracking sales.
   
   
3. Contact the program director at the beginning of the Phase II to discuss participation in usability testing at NCI's User-Centered Informatics Research Lab. NCI’s usability evaluation is provided to complement your independent content evaluation. Applicants should include $30,000 in their budget for this activity. These funds are used to pay an independent contractor to conduct the evaluation; unused funds may be used for other research activities. The principal investigator should also include travel, ground transportation, and lodging expenses in their budget for this activity. If you do not include these funds in the Phase II, no supplement will be awarded. Email the Program Director (PD) if you have any questions (cd34b@nih.gov).
   
   
4. Participate in a "Linking Science and Business Products Showcase". Periodically, the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS) sponsors an SBIR/STTR Product Showcase. Participants are Phase II grantees or contractors who have completed or are about to complete their research and product development. An audience of staff across the National Institutes of Health evaluates the presentations. To date, DCCPS has sponsored four showcases highlighting 84 products; a fifth showcase is schedule for early 2008. Templates of research findings and product information can be found in the research portfolio and product sections of this website. Showcase video casts can be found at: http://videocast.nih.gov/PastEvents.asp?c=20. The principal investigator should include travel, ground transportation, meals and lodging expenses in their budget for this activity.
   
   
5. Publish grant results in at least one peer-reviewed publication. At the time of the showcase, grantees and contractors are asked to email the PD an outline of their journal article or notice of a pending article for publication.
   
   
6. Complete a Phase II Final Report Template. All showcase participants complete the following template prior to the showcase. After the showcase, the PD periodically contacts participants for an update of selected information not available at the time of the showcase.

Phase II Final Report Template

Additional information for Phase I SBIR Contractors

1. Phase I contractors must convene focus groups. In addition to a panel of experts and consultants who select, develop, review the content for the product, the contractor must convene focus groups of potential end-users who are not experts in the subject matter but who can provide input about ease of use, type and amount of content, format, etc. This is a critical part of Phase I feasibility testing. If focus group information is not provided in the application, points will be deducted during review. NIH Human Subjects Guidelines must be followed.
   
   
2. FDA approval. If the product needs FDA approval, the company should start the process during the Phase I contract.
   
   
3. Phase I Presentation. Unlike Phase I SBIR grantees, Phase I contractors present their research findings and prototype to an NCI review panel at the end of the Phase I. The panel collectively determines whether or not the company is invited to submit a Phase II application. This panel includes NCI staff and non-NCI individuals with expertise in the topic area.