NIA Research and Entrepreneurial Development Immersion (REDI): Entrepreneurial Small Business Transition Award (R41/R42 Clinical Trial Optional) | RFA AG 24 043

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA AG 24 043

The NIA Research and Entrepreneurial Development Immersion (REDI): Entrepreneurial Small Business Transition Award is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) designed to help move promising early-career scientists into industry while advancing product-focused research and development through the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. Released as RFA-AG-24-043, this discretionary grant uses the R41/R42 mechanism (with clinical trials optional) to support projects that combine two things that are often kept separate: rigorous technology development and structured entrepreneurial career development for the project lead.

At its core, the FOA is meant to create a clear on-ramp for postdoctoral fellows and early-stage researchers who have strong technical and discovery experience and want to build real-world commercialization skills while working inside a small business concern (SBC). The program is intentionally structured so that these early-career investigators can serve as the Principal Investigator/Program Director (PI/PD) on an STTR award, with the small business using grant funds to support their hiring and salary. In practical terms, the award is not only paying for experiments and product development; it is also paying to embed an emerging scientific leader within a company environment where they can learn how to translate research into a viable product and, importantly, establish themselves professionally in the private sector.

A defining feature of REDI within this STTR context is the strong emphasis on entrepreneurial training, mentoring, and career development as a major component of the award rather than an add-on. Applicants are expected to treat entrepreneurship as an integral part of the project plan, meaning the PI/PD is being developed alongside the technology. The FOA is aimed at candidates who may already excel at research but need deliberate exposure to the business-side fundamentals that shape whether innovations make it to patients, customers, or care settings. This can include learning how to assess markets, understand customer needs, navigate intellectual property and regulatory considerations, build business models, and communicate value propositions to partners and funders, all while maintaining scientific momentum on the underlying product.

Because the intention is to facilitate the PI/PD's transition into the small business, the FOA makes it clear that most of the PI/PD's employment must be with the SBC. That requirement reinforces the program's workforce-development purpose: it is not meant to be a primarily academic appointment with occasional industry collaboration, but rather a deliberate shift toward an industry-centered role where product development is the day-to-day focus. As an STTR opportunity, the small business is the applicant organization, and the award supports expanding the company's scientific research staff while moving a defined technology toward commercialization readiness.

Eligibility is limited to small businesses as applicants. Foreign institutions and other non-U.S. entities are not eligible to apply, and non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible. However, foreign components, as NIH defines them in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, may be allowed in some cases, which typically means certain project elements can occur abroad if they are well-justified and meet NIH policy requirements, though the applicant organization itself must be eligible and U.S.-based under STTR rules.

In terms of basic opportunity details, the sponsoring agency is NIH/NIA, the assistance listing is CFDA 93.866, the funding instrument is a grant, and the original closing date listed for this announcement was October 26, 2023. The announcement describes the award as using the R41/R42 "Industry Development Award" approach, which aligns with the STTR phased structure (generally corresponding to a feasibility-focused Phase I and a development/expansion Phase II) while emphasizing that the project and the investigator are both being advanced: the company is building a product, and the PI/PD is building the entrepreneurial toolkit and industry experience needed to lead translational work over the long term.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIA Research and Entrepreneurial Development Immersion (REDI): Entrepreneurial Small Business Transition Award (R41/R42 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-08-15.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-10-26. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Small businesses.

Apply for RFA AG 24 043

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