Atoms to Product (A2P) | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The Atoms to Product (A2P) opportunity (DARPA BAA 14-56) was a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office solicitation focused on pushing manufacturing and assembly well beyond today s incremental improvements. The core idea was to develop new processes and technologies that can take nanoscale building blocks (nanometer-scale constituents) and reliably assemble them into larger, functional outcomes at the millimeter scale or bigger. In practical terms, DARPA was looking for ways to translate the unusual and often superior properties seen at the nanoscale into real, usable components, materials, and integrated systems that are large enough to matter for devices and fielded applications.

The technical emphasis was on assembly and fabrication approaches that could enable truly disruptive capabilities in science, devices, or systems. The solicitation explicitly drew a line between revolutionary and evolutionary work: proposals that mainly offered incremental, state-of-the-practice improvements were excluded. That means the program was not intended to fund straightforward optimization of existing manufacturing methods, modest performance tweaks, or routine scaling of known techniques. Instead, it sought concepts that could change what is feasible, such as radically new assembly paradigms, unconventional process flows, or breakthroughs that unlock high-performance structures or system-level functions by precisely organizing nanoscale constituents into larger architectures.

From a funding and contracting standpoint, the opportunity was categorized as discretionary R and D support under CFDA 12.910 (Research and Technology Development). DARPA indicated multiple possible award instruments, including cooperative agreements, grants, other procurement contracts, and similar mechanisms, giving the agency flexibility to select the most suitable arrangement based on the nature of the proposed work and the anticipated level of government involvement. There was no cost sharing or matching requirement stated, which generally lowers barriers for participation and allows teams to focus on technical risk and innovation rather than assembling required cost share.

Eligibility was described as unrestricted, meaning it was open to a broad range of applicant types, subject to any clarifications in the full announcement. In typical DARPA BAAs, that openness can encompass universities, nonprofits, for-profit companies (including startups), federally funded research and development centers, and teams or consortia combining multiple organizations, as long as they meet the administrative and compliance requirements described in the BAA.

Key dates for the solicitation were centered in late 2014. The opportunity was posted on September 2, 2014, with a closing date of November 12, 2014. It was later archived on January 12, 2015. The listing notes that applicants who had difficulty accessing the full announcement electronically were directed to contact the BAA Coordinator for DARPA BAA 14-56 via the provided email address, with the detailed technical requirements, submission instructions, and evaluation criteria contained in the attached BAA.

Overall, A2P was a DARPA effort aimed at bridging the gap between nanoscale materials and real-world, macroscale utility by inventing new assembly methods that can build larger systems from nanoscale parts, while insisting on high-risk, high-reward advances rather than incremental progress.

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