Technology area

AI / ML

864 funded awards, $555.3M total, FY2023-FY2025.

Data current as of 2026-05-11

Pattern read

AI/ML is one of the broadest tags in the dataset: 864 funded SBIR/STTR records and roughly $555M over the three-year window. The work spans nearly every IC. The National Institute on Aging shows up first by record count, which tracks with how much SBIR money has flowed into dementia screening, fall detection, and remote cognitive assessment. NIGMS is second, reflecting the volume of computational-biology and method-development startups it has historically supported. NIMH rounds out the top three, in line with the rise of language-model-driven mental health tools. Median award size sits at around $506K, consistent with a mix of Phase I awards and Phase II continuations. Recipient concentration is unusually flat: the top three orgs hold only about 3% of records, so there is no dominant incumbent here. Most awardees landed one or two grants, not a dozen.

Fit indicators

  • Spreads across nearly every IC; angles have existed for ML applied to aging, mental health, oncology, immunology, and rare disease.
  • R44 records outnumber R43 (479 vs 248), so Phase I-to-Phase II transitions have been a workable path historically.
  • Top-three concentration is ~3%; the field has not been swept by a small set of well-funded incumbents.

Watchouts

  • AI/ML is treated as a feature by most reviewers, not a category. If your application leans on the model as the product, expect deep questions about clinical validation, dataset provenance, and bias mitigation.
  • NIA's leading volume reflects funded records, not a current solicitation. Check NOFO status before assuming an aging + AI route is open today.

Where the money sat, by Institute / Center

IC funding decisions are set by portfolio priorities, NOFO scope, and program-officer judgment. These are funded records, not predictions of future funding.

ICNameRecordsMedian award
AG (NIA) National Institute on Aging 141 $772,490
GM (NIGMS) National Institute of General Medical Sciences 101 $356,500
MH (NIMH) National Institute of Mental Health 86 $697,975
CA (NCI) National Cancer Institute 85 $911,110
HL (NHLBI) National Heart Lung and Blood Institute 63 $304,119
DA (NIDA) National Institute on Drug Abuse 46 $399,448
ES (NIEHS) National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 42 $305,018
AI (NIAID) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 41 $942,842
NS (NINDS) National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke 33 $766,944
MD (NIMHD) National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities 28 $392,440
HD (NICHD) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 28 $392,494
TR (NCATS) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences 22 $349,561
EY (NEI) National Eye Institute 20 $362,970
DK (NIDDK) National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases 19 $370,020
DE (NIDCR) National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research 17 $350,000
EB (NIBIB) National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering 17 $888,411
DC (NIDCD) National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders 16 $528,516
AR (NIAMS) National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases 10 $844,312
NR (NINR) National Institute of Nursing Research 9 $360,358
HG (NHGRI) National Human Genome Research Institute 9 $399,156
AT (NCCIH) National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health 8 $302,392
AA (NIAAA) National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism 8 $414,862
LM (NLM) National Library of Medicine 8 $425,496
OD NIH Office of the Director 7 $926,753

FOA / NOFO routes

Opportunity number prefixes: PA = Parent Announcement (broad, omnibus, multiple ICs), PAR = Parent with Special Review, PAS = Parent with set-aside funds, RFA = Request for Applications (targeted, single-IC, fixed budget). Status unknown means the pipeline has not verified whether the FOA is currently posting awards; the SBIR omnibus has been in reauthorization gap during this window. See the glossary for full definitions.

OpportunityStatusRecords
PA-22-176 unknown 153
PA-23-230 unknown 138
PA-24-245 unknown 69
PA-21-259 unknown 63
PAS-22-196 unknown 48
PA-22-178 unknown 27
PAS-19-316 unknown 27
PA-20-272 unknown 25
PA-24-247 unknown 23
PA-22-177 unknown 20
PA-23-232 unknown 19
PA-20-260 unknown 18
PA-23-231 unknown 14
PA-21-262 unknown 14
PA-21-260 unknown 13
RFA-MD-23-003 unknown 11
PA-21-345 unknown 11
PA-24-246 unknown 10
PA-20-265 unknown 10
RFA-DA-19-019 unknown 9
PA-18-579 unknown 9
RFA-DA-23-021 unknown 8
PAR-22-073 unknown 8
RFA-MD-22-004 unknown 7
RFA-MD-24-006 unknown 6
RFA-CA-22-017 unknown 5
PAS-22-197 unknown 4
PAR-23-213 unknown 4
PA-25-212 unknown 4
PAR-20-244 unknown 4
RFA-DA-22-001 unknown 4
PAR-21-225 unknown 4
RFA-AG-21-025 unknown 4
PAR-18-801 unknown 3
RFA-ES-24-003 unknown 3
RFA-CA-21-001 unknown 3
PA-20-047 unknown 3
PA-23-233 unknown 3
PA-20-262 unknown 3
PA-22-179 unknown 3
RFA-NS-23-006 unknown 3
RFA-CA-23-034 unknown 2
RFA-DA-25-053 unknown 2
RFA-AG-24-042 unknown 2
RFA-CA-23-035 unknown 2
RFA-NS-23-007 unknown 2
RFA-MD-22-003 unknown 2
RFA-CA-21-036 unknown 2
RFA-CA-22-025 unknown 2
RFA-AG-22-014 unknown 2
PA-19-272 unknown 2
RFA-DA-25-052 unknown 1
RFA-AA-24-001 unknown 1
RFA-AA-24-002 unknown 1
PAR-24-106 unknown 1
RFA-DA-25-054 unknown 1
RFA-DA-24-038 unknown 1
PAR-24-131 expired 1
PA-24-248 unknown 1
RFA-ES-23-008 unknown 1
RFA-ES-23-005 unknown 1
RFA-DA-24-017 unknown 1
RFA-DA-24-018 unknown 1
RFA-ES-20-008 unknown 1
PA-19-273 unknown 1
RFA-DA-19-020 unknown 1
PA-18-566 unknown 1
PAS-19-317 unknown 1
RFA-ES-21-005 unknown 1
PA-18-871 unknown 1
PAR-19-333 unknown 1
PAR-21-247 unknown 1
RFA-ES-22-004 unknown 1
RFA-NS-20-011 unknown 1
RFA-NS-20-009 unknown 1
RFA-DA-23-017 unknown 1
RFA-MD-21-006 unknown 1
PA-23-189 unknown 1

Comparable funded projects

ApplIDFYICTitleOrganizationAmount
10710321 2025 NS Wearable Sensor and Digital Technologies for Quantitative Assessment and Remote Monitoring of Symptoms in Myasthenia Gravis BIOSENSICS, LLC $973,917
10838505 2025 MD Lowering the burden of medical translation by enabling healthcare professionals as human editors of machine translations TRANSCENDENT INTERNATIONAL, LLC $785,654
10868573 2025 MD Promoting Linguistic and Cultural Identity through Bilingual Children's Stories to Address Nutrition and Health in Indigenous Communities TRANSCENDENT INTERNATIONAL, LLC $712,180
10921587 2025 DE AI-linked cytomics-on-a-chip to enable near-real time identification and management of oral lichenoid lesions in primary care ORALIVA, INC. $1,178,476
10933016 2025 CA Validation of a lab-free low-cost screening test for prevention of cervical cancer: automated visual evaluation DL ANALYTICS, LLC $709,898
10953826 2025 HL A non-invasive, automated platform for hemodynamic assessment of patients at risk of heart failure or pulmonary hypertension SENSYDIA CORPORATION $1,607,970
10983779 2025 MH Voice-based AI to scale evaluation of crisis counseling in 988 rollout LYSSN.IO, INC. $840,309
10991402 2025 AG The BRAIN App: Building Relationships using Artificial Intelligence and Nostalgia HOPEFUL AGING LLC $772,490

Review panels that have appeared on these records

Panel names use NIH's Center for Scientific Review (CSR) format: a 2-4 letter study-section code plus a meeting-cycle number in parentheses (e.g. ISB (12) = Instrumentation and Systems Development, cycle 12). SBIR/STTR review groups are temporary, meeting-specific bodies. The names below describe panels that have appeared on the cited funded-project records, not where future applications get assigned. NIH assigns panels at the time of submission based on the application content.

Limitations

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