National Science Foundation Grant

Awarded: May 2020

This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop an innovative sustainability tool that abstracts the knowledge of biology from scientific literature and makes it available to architects and designers such that the built environment sector can support biomimetic ideas, implementable in terms of material availability and structural codes. The project will be organized by building challenge category, biome, and function. It will filter champion organisms that have already solved the specified function, and provide translated principles and images to explain the solution. The project will interpret, capture, store, and systematically distribute translations of natural system models for diverse application in the built environment.

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to bring biomimetic ideas to traditional architecture. This project consists of a development of a robust and innovative database to catalyze incorporating scientific concepts into designs for the built environment. This project will inspire the design of naturally resilient structures. NSF Award Information

About America’s Seed Fund

America’s Seed Fund powered by the National Science Foundation (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 in non-dilutive funds 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.