Department Of Homeland Security Seeks To Understand Blockchain Tech

Posted by: Benjamin Vitáris

December 21, 2015

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is launching a program where they are exploring ways to understand the blockchain technology better. They do this within their Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) of the department’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.

The DHS is currently accepting research proposals from small businesses in 13 different topic areas, including the “Applicability of Blockchain Technology to Privacy Respecting Identity Management” and “Blockchain Applications for Homeland Security Analytics”. They describe their project as a ”three-phase program” that encourages small businesses to work and do their research with the federal agency. The SBIR project firstly seeks to assess the “technical merit and feasibility” of the submitted proposals by the small firms. DHS Under Secretary for Science and Technology, Reginald Brothers, made this statement about the program:

“It is vitally important that we cast a wide net to find highly innovative solutions to the nation’s homeland security challenges. We know that America’s small businesses are creative problem solvers and engines of innovation and we want to hear from them.”

The proposals approved for Phase I are limited to six months and are awarded the sum of $100,000 while projects that pass to Phase II are eligible for 24-month projects with up to $750,000 available in the form of awards.

“Phase III refers to work that derives from, extends or completes an effort made under prior SBIR funding, but is funded by sources other than the SBIR program,” the Department of Homeland Security stated.

In the S&T initiative, the Homeland Security is calling a research for 10 projects, including the ”studying malware prediction for cyber defense” and ”real-time data analytics for emergency medical services.” The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office program of the DHS also offers grants in three different categories.

Proposals should be submitted to the DHS SBIR by 14:00 EST on January 20, 2016, in order to be considered for 2016’s project.

Updated: 2015-12-21