Webinar Series: GE Extend Arkansas – Science Venture Studio – Capitalizing on Non-Dilutive Funding and DoW Funding Playbook

About this event

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Where federal funding stands today, what wins now, where AI helps and where it hurts, and how to build a funding strategy that lasts. .

Date Wednesday, November 4th, 2026

Time 1 PM ET (12 PM CT)

Location Engineering Research Center, 700 Research Center Blvd, Fayetteville, AR 72701, and online via Zoom

Register https://info.grantengine.com/ge-extend-arkansas-2026

Duration 60 minutes (45 min Session, 15 min Q&A)

Speakers Sam Tetlow, Founder & CEO, Grant Engine; Humeyra Ulusoy, PhD, Program Manager, Grant Engine; Katie Thompson, Executive Director, Science Adventure Studios

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What To Expect

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• 45 minutes: The session Funding update and outlook, Write to Win + AI in Use, and long-term funding strategies.

• 15 minutes: Live Q&A Bring your questions for the Grant Engine team.

• Hybrid – Join your way Attend in person at the Engineering Research Center in Fayetteville or online via Zoom.

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Federal non-dilutive funding has changed more in the past year than in the prior decade. With the U.S. government’s renewed focus on defense innovation, non-dilutive funding opportunities across the Department of War (DoW) are expanding in both size and velocity. This session delivers an actionable playbook for early-stage defense and dual-use tech companies to secure capital, validate technology, and transition into programs of record.

The session builds directly on intelligence from active engagements with DoW program managers, successful SBIR/STTR awardees, and transition champions. Whether your work touches AI, advanced manufacturing, precision agriculture, biotechnology, supply-chain innovation, or energy and environmental technologies, this is your moment to turn research into impact.

Funding Update and Outlook . Status, budgets, deadlines, and best fit across Life Sciences and Health (NIH SBIR/STTR, ARPA-H, BARDA) and Defense and Dual-Use (DoW SBIR/STTR, DARPA, DIU), plus the reauthorization provisions that matter most: the new Strategic Breakthrough Awards of up to $30M, proposal caps, expanded Direct-to-Phase II, and enhanced foreign risk and security requirements.

Write to Win + AI in Use . How DoW SBIR works, how DoW evaluates technologies, what reviewers look for, and how to align your technical approach, commercialization potential, and proposed work with DoW priorities. We also draw a clear line on AI: where it accelerates proposal development, where human expertise remains essential, and why even paid AI tools may not protect unpublished data and intellectual property.

Long-Term Funding Strategies . Moving from the next award to the next several years: diversifying across federal, state, non-profit, and global sources, and the plays leading companies use to build durable funding, including Snowball Effect, Collaborative + Strategic Partnerships, Always One Step Ahead, Platform, Free-Up Equity, and Virtuous Circle.

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What You’ll Leave With

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• Where the money is right now : status, budgets, deadlines, and best fit for NIH SBIR/STTR, ARPA-H, BARDA, DoD SBIR/STTR, DARPA, and DIU.

• What just changed : reauthorization provisions, annual proposal caps, Strategic Breakthrough Awards, and foreign risk requirements, and what each means for filing strategy.

• Why applications win or lose : the Approach section is the strongest single predictor of funding at NIH, and DoW ranks technical merit above all other criteria. Both are the hardest sections to write well

• How to win more often : curb appeal, a self-evident story, logical flow, clarity through the Pyramid of Communication, shoring up the weakest criteria, and independent external review

• The AI boundary : AI accelerates prior art and landscape research, digesting background material, benchmarking against funded work, and cutting to page limits. The grant thesis, differentiation, and Specific Aims remain human work.

• Protecting Your IP : consumer AI terms may permit reuse of content, so patentable claims and unpublished results deserve an enterprise-grade, confidential tool.

• A long-term strategy : expanding and diversifying funding sources and compounding each win into the next.

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Your Speakers

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• Sam Tetlow, MBA Founder & CEO, Grant Engine ( bio here )

• Humeyra Ulusoy, PhD , Program Manager, Grant Engine

• Katie Thompson, Executive Director , Science Adventure Studios

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From Grant Engine and Science Venture Studio