News Releases from Region 09

EPA Awards $300K to California Small Businesses to Develop Innovative Technologies

LOS ANGELES – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $300,000 in funding to three small businesses in California to develop new technologies that protect the environment while growing the American economy. About $1.7 million was awarded to 16 small businesses nationwide.

“EPA is providing small businesses with financial support to develop innovative technologies that will address urgent environmental and public health needs across the nation,” said EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “This year, we are encouraging the development of a variety of new technologies, including innovations to help address PFAS and improve water quality nationwide.”  

The contracts announced today are funded through EPA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which encourages the development and commercialization of novel technologies that support EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment. The small businesses that are being funded are working on a wide range of topics including water quality, air quality, land revitalization, homeland security, manufacturing, and construction materials.

EPA is awarding phase 1 contracts to the following three small businesses in California for up to $100,000 for six months:

• Seacoast Science Inc., Carlsbad, Calif., to develop innovative broad-spectrum analysis methods for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) that will simplify PFAS analysis, reduce cost-per-sample, and allow portability to remediation sites.
• Altex Technologies Corporation, Sunnyvale, Calif., to create a process to produce renewable, toxic-free, low-energy, low cost bioplastics.
• Intelligent Optical Systems Inc., Torrance, Calif., to create greener, degradable plastics with a high heat tolerance, produced from bio-based feedstock.

Nationwide, EPA awarded 17 phase I contracts to 16 small businesses for up to $100,000 for six months. Phase I recipients are eligible to apply for a phase II contract, which will help commercialize the technology that was conceptualized in phase I. A phase II contract can fund these companies with up to $300,000 to develop their environmental technology for the marketplace.

For a full list of the SBIR contracts funded, please visit: https://cfpub.epa.gov/ncer_abstracts/index.cfm/fuseaction/recipients.display/rfa_id/644/records_per_page/ALL

More information about EPA’s SBIR program can be found at: www.epa.gov/sbir