Opportunities

Sprint for Women’s Health aims to address critical unmet challenges in women’s health across all demographics, geographies, and socioeconomic statuses, championing transformative innovations and tackling health conditions that uniquely or disproportionately affect women from every walk of life.

The ARPA-H Sprint for Women’s Health’s new request for solutions (RFS) funding opportunity will use two funding tracks to foster transformative research and development efforts: one for early-stage research, or “Spark” solutions, and the other for later-stage development, or “Launchpad” solutions.

Key Dates*

 – Virtual Proposers’ Day: Wednesday, March 6, 2024, 11:00 a.m. ET. (Registration deadline is 4:00 p.m. ET on March 5, 2024.) ARPA-H will provide an overview of the RFS with an opportunity to ask questions and access teaming opportunities.

 – Submissions open: Wednesday, March 13, 2024, 9:00 a.m. ET

 – Question deadline: Questions must be submitted by March 27, 2024, 5:00 p.m. ET. Submit questions here.

 – Submission deadline: Friday, April 12, 2024, 5:00 p.m. ET

 – Pitch phase: May-July 2024

 – Invitation for Collaboration & Negotiation (IC&N): July-August 2024

 – Award: September 2024

*Dates are notional and dependent on the number of submissions received.

Program Description

With the two funding opportunity tracks, ARPA-H aims to lower barriers of entry for a diverse range of participants, with a simplified submission process of a Solution Summary followed by a pitch session. A Solution Summary is a three-page document that addresses how the proposed idea is relevant to ARPA-H mission and the proposed women’s health topic areas. The Spark and Launchpad tracks are available for all six women’s health topics.

For the funding opportunity tracks, the expected period of performance will be 24 months. The selected performers will work directly with an ARPA-H Program Manager (PM). They will receive an ARPA-H award contracted through the ARPANET-H Investor Catalyst Hub.

Women’s Health Topics

The RFS invites Solution Summary submissions on the following six topics of interest in women’s health for either the Spark or Launchpad track. Please note that submissions outside of topics listed below will not be considered at this time.

 – Women’s Health Topic 01: Women’s Health at Home

 – Women’s Health Topic 02: Prioritizing Ovarian Health Through Mid-Life To Prevent Disease

– Women’s Health Topic 03: ARTEMIS—Advancing Research Through Enhanced Models for Investigating the Influence of Sex Differences on Health Outcomes

– Women’s Health Topic 04: Advancing Women’s Brain Health Via Lymphatic Targeting

– Women’s Health Topic 05: Objective and Quantitative Measurement of Chronic Pain in Women

– Women’s Health Topic 06: Wild Card: Revolutionary Breakthroughs in Women’s Health

Women’s Health Topic Descriptions

While submissions outside of topics listed in the RFS will not be considered at this time, please visit the ARPA-H Programs page and Open BAA page for additional research opportunities. If an existing ARPA-H program aligns with your area of pursuit, please consider applying to that program’s opportunities.

Multiple awards under this RFS are anticipated. Resources available will depend on the quality of the submissions received and the availability of funds. Exact award amounts depend on meeting aggressive milestones, typical to the ARPA-H model. ARPA-H is under no obligation to respond to every submission, proceed with any Solution Summaries/Pitch, or select any specific number of Solution Summaries/Pitch in each topic. A response to this RFS or invitation to pitch will not be viewed as a binding commitment to develop or pursue the project or ideas discussed.

If you have questions about the ARPA-H Sprint for Women’s Health, use this form by March 27, 2024, 5:00 p.m. ET.

Teaming Profiles

ARPA-H anticipates that teaming will be necessary to achieve the goals of the program. Prospective performers are encouraged (but not required) to form teams with varied technical expertise to submit a Solution Summary to the Sprint. To facilitate this process, we have created a teaming page where prospective performers can share their profiles and learn more about other interested parties.

Response Deadline: 04.12.2024

• Topic #: women's health
• Technology Areas: Healthcare
• Link:

The Product Accelerator for Functional Fabrics (PAFF) program is designed to help US companies close the gap(s) in their advanced functional fabric product and technology development. To improve the time to market of these products, industry will be able to access AFFOA’s established specialized capabilities and expertise with no direct cost to your organization. The PAFF program is specifically meant for companies that have a product near commercialization or a process with a targeted improvement need that can be completed over a period of performance of up to 12 months. 

The PAFF program will support access to AFFOA’s staff expertise and capabilities for your commercialization efforts, including:

– Textile and electronic product design 

– Thermally drawn fiber*

– Textile yarn and fabric formation  

– Electronics development

– Prototype manufacturing

– Component & product testing and failure analysis

– Process development engineering

Access the PAFF Webinar

AFFOA Members can access the webinar in the AFFOA Member Portal.

Non-AFFOA Members, please complete this form to access a recording of the October 12^th PAFF Webinar.

More information on the scope of the Product Accelerator for Functional Fabrics program is provided in the PAFF Guidebook.

For internal and external communication purposes, each Proposer is required to provide a single slide following the PAFF Program Proposal Summary Slide Template.

If you have questions regarding this program, please use the form.

Important Due Dates: 

Pre-proposals should be submitted via email to proposals@affoa.org by 5:00 PM PST on November 8^th, 2023.  

Full proposals should be submitted via email to proposals@affoa.org by 5:00 PM PST on December 12^th, 2023.  

About AFFOA:  

AFFOA is a non-profit, public private partnership and one of the DoD funded Manufacturing USA Innovation Institutes headquartered in Cambridge, MA. AFFOA’s mission is to “Rekindle the domestic textiles industry by leading a nationwide enterprise for advanced fiber & fabric technology development and manufacturing, enabling revolutionary system capabilities for national security and commercial markets”.    

AFFOA’s strength is its ability to engage with the United States textile community to meet their needs and build a robust ecosystem of collaboration.  More information on membership to the Fabric Innovation Network can be found on AFFOA’s website (www.affoa.org).      

Please note that AFFOA Membership is not required to submit a proposal for this program. However, AFFOA Membership will be required if chosen to be part of the PAFF program.  If you are interested in becoming a member of AFFOA’s network or learning more, please contact membership@affoa.org.

*No new development will be funded; capability is provided for products that have demonstrated manufacturing readiness level >4.

Response Deadline: 11.08.2023

• Link: