The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has opened a funding opportunity for rapid, high-impact projects that support the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using funds appropriated by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act signed by President Trump on March 27, 2020, NIST will award these grants through the NIST Manufacturing USA National Emergency Assistance Program with no requirements for cost matching.
Funding will be awarded to eligible Manufacturing USA® institutes, a network of 14 public-private partnerships that work with academic and private sector manufacturing organizations on research and development and manufacturing skills training. Each institute focuses on a particular advanced manufacturing specialty such as biofabrication, 3D manufacturing or advanced functional fabrics.
“These new grants contribute to President Trump’s whole-of-America response to the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. “These grants will be awarded with speed and agility, as the Department of Commerce aims to work at the ‘speed of business’ to meet this unprecedented health challenge.”