The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has announced its first award under the Biological Technologies EZ Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) funding effort.
20n Labs, Inc., a Berkley-based developer of synthetic microbes using custom software algorithms, will receive funding valued at $612,026 to further advance their proprietary technology.
The EZ BAA was initiated in November 2014 by DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office as a mechanism to streamline the BAA process in order to encourage more small business and research organizations to submit their innovations for funding.
Unlike traditional BAAs, which specify topics and minimum performance requirements, the EZ BAA is open to any idea with the potential to yield revolutionary new capabilities in the biotech. This eliminates the need for proposers to search or wait for specific opportunities relevant to their expertise.