Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA OD 19 014

The NIH Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hubs (REACH) Awards opportunity (RFA-OD-19-014) is a cooperative agreement program designed to help close the gap between promising biomedical discoveries and products that can realistically reach patients. NIH’s aim is to fund five REACH “hubs” that can identify, evaluate, and advance early-stage innovations into commercially viable diagnostics, devices, therapeutics, and research tools. The focus is on overcoming the common barriers that stall translation at the earliest stages, when projects often have strong scientific potential but are not yet mature enough in product definition, validation, regulatory planning, reimbursement strategy, manufacturing feasibility, or business development to attract private investment or licensing partners.

This is a U01 cooperative agreement, meaning awardees should expect substantial NIH involvement compared with a standard grant. Rather than simply funding isolated research projects, NIH intends for the five funded hubs to operate as a coordinated technology development consortium. In practice, that implies shared expectations around implementing proven “best practices” for translational acceleration, learning from prior pilot efforts, and aligning with the objectives of the Phase 0 Proof of Concept Partnership pilot program. The program is also explicitly tied to federal commercialization policy established in Section 5127 of the 2011 SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act (P.L. 112-81) and its subsequent reauthorization through FY 2022 (referenced as H.R. 5515 Sec. 854). The underlying policy intent is to create structured, scalable pathways that move federally supported research outputs toward the marketplace in a responsible, public-benefit-driven way.

REACH hubs are meant to be more than funding conduits; they are expected to provide the kind of organized translational infrastructure that many academic and nonprofit settings lack. That typically includes disciplined project selection and milestone-based management, hands-on commercialization support, connections to industry expertise, and training opportunities that build a workforce skilled in translation and entrepreneurship. NIH frames this as aligned with broader federal research and development priorities, especially educating and training a 21st-century workforce, strengthening technology transfer from laboratories to real-world use, and increasing productive partnerships among academia, industry, and other stakeholders in the national R&D enterprise.

The opportunity is broad in who can apply. Eligible applicants include many types of government entities (state, county, city/township, special district), schools and independent school districts, public and private institutions of higher education, federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)), for-profit organizations (including those other than small businesses), and small businesses. This wide eligibility reflects the program’s hub model: a hub can be led by an academic institution, nonprofit, or other organization capable of assembling the right blend of translational science, product development expertise, commercialization experience, and stakeholder engagement.

Key administrative details include an award ceiling of $1,000,000 and an expectation of five total awards. The awarding agency is the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The FOA is categorized as discretionary funding and spans a range of NIH-related CFDA numbers, reflecting the cross-cutting nature of the program across multiple NIH institutes and centers. The posting indicates a creation date of December 17, 2018 and an original closing date of March 19, 2019, which is relevant for historical context and for locating the final FOA and associated application instructions, review criteria, and program-specific requirements.

A critical constraint is embedded in the title: “Clinical Trial Not Allowed.” Applicants should interpret that as the funded activities under this mechanism are not intended to support clinical trials. The emphasis is on preclinical, translational, and product-development-enabling work and on commercialization readiness activities, rather than human subject efficacy studies. Overall, NIH’s REACH Awards are structured to create regional or institutional hubs that can reliably de-risk early innovations, build strong development plans, and position technologies for licensing, startup formation, partnerships, or later-stage non-dilutive and private investment, ultimately aiming to accelerate improvements in patient care and public health.

  • The Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health in the education, environment, food and nutrition, health, income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIH Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hubs (REACH) Awards (U01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
  • Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.113, 93.121, 93.172, 93.173, 93.213, 93.233, 93.242, 93.273, 93.279, 93.286, 93.307, 93.350, 93.351, 93.361, 93.393, 93.394, 93.395, 93.396, 93.399, 93.837, 93.838, 93.839, 93.846, 93.847, 93.853, 93.855, 93.859, 93.865, 93.866, 93.867, 93.879.
  • This funding opportunity was created on Dec 17, 2018.
  • Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 19, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
  • Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,000,000.00 in funding.
  • The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 5 candidate(s).
  • Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).
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