JULY 2019, AUSTIN, TX – WildSpark Technologies has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for $225,000. SBIR grants are highly competitive and focus on high-risk, high-impact technologies. WildSpark’s novel technology is expected to help unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operate without the need for propeller blades and with a higher degree of precision that existing technologies.
“This award from the National Science Foundation is a game-changer,” said Andrew Dickens, founder of WildSpark Technologies. “We are both honored and excited as this award will greatly accelerate our work to advance our propulsion technology and usher in a new era of urban air mobility”.
“NSF is proud to support the technology of the future by thinking beyond incremental developments and funding the most creative, impactful ideas across all markets and areas of science and engineering,” said Andrea Belz, Division Director of the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) at NSF. “With the support of our research funds, any deep technology startup or small business can guide basic science into meaningful solutions that address tremendous needs.”
About the National Science Foundation’s Small Business Programs: America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF awards $200 million annually to startups and small businesses, transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and societal impact. Startups working across almost all areas of science and technology can receive up to $1.75 million to support research and development (R&D), helping de-risk technology for commercial success. America’s Seed Fund is congressionally mandated through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The NSF is an independent federal agency with a budget of about $8.1 billion that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. For more information, visit seedfund.nsf.gov