6 Steps to Help Startups Establish as Businesses

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Starting a new business is not an easy thing to do under the prevailing economic conditions of competitiveness. Once you manage to launch your startup, still you will have to go through a lot of hassle in order to establish it as a business. We’ve gathered a list of some useful tips that you can keep in mind in order to establish your startup as a strong business within a short period of time. 

As a young entrepreneur, you need to be equipped with a good sense of timing. In other words, you need to figure out the best moment to launch the company. This can be considered as a balancing act, which is influenced by many different factors such as the floes and ebbs of your industry, your personal circumstances and the faltering or success of competitors.

1. Business Plan

Before you start the business, before anything, it is recommended that you develop a solid business plan, although some successful entrepreneurs suggest this is not a prerequisite to launching a startup. However, it is considered a safer route as it can assist you to make decisions quickly and move forward with your business. This doesn’t mean that you need to rush through things. You need to stick to your plan and develop it carefully. 

2. Self-Discipline in Financial

It is also important for the aspiring entrepreneur to be equipped with self-discipline. You need to have complete control over your finances and stick to the budget at every time. In other words, you need to have discipline in all aspects when you are starting a new business. You should always seek to make important decisions ahead of time. Otherwise, you will end up doing silly mistakes in the last minute. You should also take necessary measures to figure out the perfect balance between work and life. Many startups fail because the entrepreneurs tend to let their business take over their lives. Every business requires a bit more nurturing at the initial stage. Therefore, you need to figure out what needs to be accomplished in your business and what is the perfect time for it. It might be necessary to force yourself in order to stick to the benchmarks. 

3. Conquer the Networking Game

If you take a look at the lives of successful entrepreneurs, you would realize that all of them are equipped with excellent social skills. They have a clear understanding about key people who are at high places. As a result, they always prefer to get in touch with the individuals who are at the top positions of the industry. This can contribute a lot towards their success in the long run. Networking is extremely important for the success of modern world businesses. The sharp social skills of entrepreneurs can help them to create excellent relationships within the industry and make their businesses grow within a short period of time. 

4. Be Flexible

Flexibility is another vital aspect that a startup should have in order to establish as a successful business within a short time period. You put a lot of faith, effort and time on your new business. Therefore, you don’t want to change the plans that you have created any time soon. However, it is essential to be flexible; especially during the startup stage in order to make sure you don’t run into trouble after a couple of months. All the successful entrepreneurs who live out there in every corner of the world invest their emotions and energy on the business plan. However, they do not prefer to get married to a specific course of action. They do a background study and figure out the best possible option available for them. Then they implement it at the right time in order to achieve success without any hassle. 

5. Manage Your Budget 

As you already know, every startup requires money to survive. Without funds you will find it as a difficult task to execute your plans. However, the amount of money you need depends on the type of your business. Whether its angel investments, seed money from your own wallet, or small business loans, you need to figure out the best method available to invest it on the business. Otherwise, you will be just wasting your money. You need to fund your business appropriately and if you can’t stick to your plans with the funds you have, you would need more money. It is extremely important for a startup to be equipped with the cleanest budget on the block. In other words, you need to create a detailed budget and stick to it before you spend even a single penny. The investments should be done at the right time according to a proper plan. 

6. Follow Up – Take Risks

Last but not least, all the entrepreneurs who are planning to establish themselves as successful professionals should make it a habit to follow through. Even the most thoughtful business plan will not be able to deliver positive results if you don’t follow up in a proper manner. You should have the ability to get things done at the end of the day. That’s where experience comes into play. If you have some sort of experience in the industry, you would not think twice before taking risks. Your ability to take risks has the potential to create a tremendous impact on the business. In addition, you should have the energy to get your hands dirty. 

Summary

The above are not meant to be used blindly as a recipe for success. However, these simple tips can contribute towards establishing your business as they cover almost all the aspects of a startup. Successful entrepreneurs have reportedly utilized these methods and appear to have enabled them to establish their business. 

To conclude, if you want to achieve success in your business, there are some practical steps analyzed above which can be followed. These steps will possibly offer positive results to any type of business out there. You just need to follow through and you will be rewarded in the longterm.

NEED MORE? -> The Importance of Leading by Emotions

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*by andreascy*

Emotional Intelligence and Leadership: The Importance of Leading by Emotions

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

"A good leader leads the people from above them. A great leader leads the people from within them." - M. D. Arnold

Effective leaders share their own unique qualities. Emotional intelligence (EQ or EI) holds a prominent place out of them. In fact, emotional intelligence has been identified as one of the prerequisites for business success in the 21st century.

What Exactly is Emotional Intelligence? 

The term introduced in 1990 by Salovey and Mayer refers to the “accurate appraisal and expression of emotions in oneself and others and the regulation of emotion in a way that enhances living” (Mayer, DiPaolo & Salovey, 1990, p. 772). In other words emotional intelligence is defined as the act of understanding, knowing, overcoming stress in the moment, responding to emotions and being aware of how your actions or words affect others. This sort of qualities would assist you to perceptive in tune with your emotions and developing is crucial for understanding, empathize and negotiate with other people.

When it comes to leadership, emotional intelligence can be described in five different attributes. They include effective communication, relationship management, empathy, self-management and self-awareness. Natural born leaders are thought to share these attributes whilst aspiring leaders should pay special attention towards the aforementioned attributes if they are to develop a sufficient level of emotional intelligence. 

It is critical for leaders to tackle EQ since a leader who lacks emotional intelligence will have difficulty to gauge the needs of employees and the public in an effective manner. Furthermore, leaders who act without emotional intelligence would run into hassle in the long run. For example, some leaders tend to spontaneously react to different situations in life without filtering their emotions. Such a stance can create serious issues in relationships and negotiations which can prevent from closing deals. Therefore, it is extremely important for the great leaders to be self-aware about themselves. They need to have a clear understanding about their verbal as well as non-verbal communication and attitude. This approach could create a tremendous impact on their lives in the long run. 

In order to understand the core of emotional intelligence that is required for effective leadership, the below elements are crucial. 

1. Effective Communication 

Effective communication can be considered as one of the key elements of emotional intelligence. If you are a leader, you should know how to appropriately communicate with whoever you deal with. Lack of effective communication can often lead to misunderstandings. Effective communication is not just focusing on your words. Recent studies have indicated that only 7% of effective communication comes from words. The remaining 93% comes from body language and tone. 

Misunderstandings can be considered as one of the major reasons behind issues that take place among individuals. For example, if you fail to communicate effectively at your workplace, you would have to experience confusion among employees along with bitterness and frustration. On the other hand, effective communication has the potential to strengthen the relationships at your workplace. When the employees have a clear understanding about their specific role within the company, they would stick to their job description. It could benefit the company at the end of the day. 

2. Relationship Management 

If you are distracted, it will most likely be a hard task to establish deep connections with other people. Almost all employees will have their own families as well as other obligations. However, it is important to maintain productive and healthy relationships in order to achieve higher emotional intelligence at the end of the day. In other words, leaders should have the ability to manage relationships properly to move a team forward in the desired direction. 

3. Compassion and Empathy 

Empathy can simply be defined as the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Then you will be able to get a better understanding on how others feel. You will even manage to predict how others react in different situations. When a leader has empathy, he/she would be able to open up the capacity to feel compassion. This can create the desire within leaders to help others. In other words, leaders with compassion and empathy will be able to relate to others in an effective manner. 

4. Self-Regulation 

Self-regulation can be considered as another important element that leaders should have in order to gain a high level of emotional intelligence. Self-regulation is simply defined as discipline. This involves redirecting or controlling all your disruptive emotions which in return will allow to adapt accordingly to different circumstances and guide your team in the right direction. As a result, you end up with positive results at the end of the day. Leaders do not afford to lose their coolness under any circumstance. Instead, they should remain calm and act completely natural in such instances. This will allow to communicate the company objectives to relevant team members in a clear manner. Concurrently, it is a strategy that will help to ease things and contribute to stay away from frustration. 

5. Self-Assessment 

Self-assessment is the ability to figure out your own values, weaknesses, strengths, emotions and drivers. It also rotates around the ability to understand how those values can create an impact on others around. Therefore, leaders with emotional intelligence should have this quality. Without the ability for self-reflection, we would not be able to figure out who we are. In addition, we would not have been able to realize where we fall short, what we are good at and why we make certain decisions in life. In order to achieve your maximum potential, you need to be confident about who you are. As a leader, you need to have a clear idea about your good and bad qualities. Then you will be able to use them accordingly in your day to day life, especially when dealing with other people and constantly having to make important decisions. 

As it appears from the previous, it is important for a leader to have innate highly developed emotional intelligence. The aforementioned can directly contribute towards the emotional intelligence of a leader which in turn can contribute to eliminate mistrust among team members, and maximize productivity in the workplace. If you do not feel you naturally exhibit high levels of emotional intelligence, you should not despair since there are ways to improve your emotional intelligence. Unfortunately, emotional intelligence is so complex that it cannot be simply acquired through reading a book or attending a seminar. However, when put on a practical basis, within a rapidly demanding daily routine such as is the case in a fast-paced growing company, for a person to learn EI requires: team-based learning, practice, and accountability. 

The following infographic draws on the work of Gordon Tredgold and provides with some further practical tips on how to improve your emotional intelligence and become a better leader.

 

Source: Inc.com

Conclusively, building on your emotional intelligence is considered as an excellent investment done towards the future of your business. It is incremental to strive for empathetic, thoughtful, responsive and reflexive leadership, be open to conversation and listening to others’ needs as well as be willing to present yourself as vulnerable and put yourself in others’ shoes. Such attitude will lead to a positive environment where employees will be inspired to bring out their best self.

DON'T MISS THIS READ: How to Dress for Success

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*by andreascy*

There Is a Shirt Out There for Everyone

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Everyone comes in different sizes. It can be hard to find the right size shirts for you, especially if you differentiate of the “standard” male. Maybe you are a tall man with long arms that don’t fit into any regular fit dress shirts for men. Or maybe you rather go with classic fit shirts. Nothing wrong with a little class.

You will need a good shirt to look good for work or that dinner, so better get one now. Want to know more on what to look for?

Regular Fit Dress Shirts for Men

Regular fits dress shirts for men are a little wider around the waist and the sleeves. They leave plenty of room for you to move around in. They are and stay comfortable, even on those long work days. You have them in all sizes, colors and patterns. A few fine choices to wear are a light blue and white striped shirt for example. Wear a regular fit dress shirt when you are up for a work day at the office. 

Men’s Extra Long Sleeve Shirts

Are your arms too long for normal shirts? Time to get some men’s extra long sleeve shirts! You can find both slim fit and regular fit shirts with extra long sleeves. Regular fit shirts are by far the most comfortable, though! Just like normal regular fit dress shirts you have a very broad choice in sizes, colors and patterns for those shirts with extra long sleeves. Go for something a little bright and wear a shirt with pink, green and white in a checkered pattern. Cheerful and yet subtle. 

Classic Fit Shirt

Do you like it a little authenticity? Classic fit shirts have just the right amount of class and give off an authentic feel. Making it possible for you to look your best. They are comfortable and roomy and men have been wearing this kind of shirt for centuries and they have always looked good in them. Wear a classic fit shirts when going out to a romantic dinner with your wife, a meeting with your boss or when you are meeting new clients. A classic fit shirt is also perfect if you are giving a speech or an elevator pitch. Try wearing a nice classy white shirt with a black or dark blue tie.

The Best Colors and the Best Patterns

It’s not enough to just wear the right shirt. It has to have the right color and pattern for whatever you are about to do. You can’t go to a dinner with clients in a murky green blazer with a mustard yellow striped shirt. That is just not the right choice, especially not when you are trying to dress to impress. No, what you want is something quite the opposite. Just a regular day at the office? Wear a shirt with a light color. Think pastels or white. Shirts with just one color or a pattern of either checkers or stripes are the best. 

Meeting with the boss? Go classy with a white shirt and a black or dark colored tie. Don’t wear a grey shirt, as those are a little bleak, but you could definitely go for a grey blazer. When you have a meeting with your boss nine out of ten times you will want to impress him or her. Keep that in mind when picking what shirt to wear in the morning. 

Got a fancy gala to attend? Go for wealthy colors like purple and red, or for the classical colors like black, white and grey. Even better is to mix it up a little. A grey blazer can never go wrong and with a beautiful bright, but subtle purple or red shirt underneath it you will steal the show. For those of us who don’t like to stand in the spotlights it is an option to go for a black blazer, with a nice white and cream colored striped shirt and a black tie. 

Measurements 

Every shirt has a certain standard measurement. Get to know what your measurements are so you can find the right shirt of whatever type you like for you. It might be a good idea to get your shirts hand tailored for your measurements so you will be able to wear a shirt that fits you perfectly, no matter what shape or size you are. There is a perfect shirt out there for everyone. Now it’s time to find yours!

WHAT TO READ NEXT: The Best Men’s Dress Shirts to Wear this Summer

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The Best Men’s Dress Shirts to Wear this Summer

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Don’t you love the summer? Lovely hot weather, a holiday in sight, being able to barbecue at night. Summers are amazing, even when you’re at the office. So dress for the occasion with a few of the amazing men’s dress shirts we have coming up for you.

Don’t worry, you can roll up those sleeves when it gets too hot during those long summer days. Wear some regular men’s dress shirts, go amazing with Thomas Masons shirts or wear an exclusive handmade men’s slim fit dress shirt!

Men’s Dress Shirts 

Your office attire isn’t ready until you have a great men’s dress shirt to wear. The options are limitless. Go with or without a pattern, in all colors of the rainbow or just one. Dare to be different and go with a striped shirt with bright colors like pink, purple or green. Great for those summer days. Or go dark and keep it classic with colors like dark blue mixed with black stripes, a dark purple shirt under a nice quality blazer or a red shirt with a gorgeous black tie with gold stripes. Those are especially good options for a dinner with colleagues in the warm evenings. 

Thomas Mason Shirts 

Thomas Mason shirts are definitely a great choice for this summer. Want to know why? Thomas Mason is a great, over 275 years old company that offer amazing quality fabrics, with great original and sometimes even eccentric patterns and colors. Their fashion designers get inspiration for their shirts from anywhere and everywhere, like for example the English landscape, an album of the beatles and of course from the themes that the season bring with them. They are loyal to their British heritage and that is something you can definitely see when looking at the work they did when they made in collaboration with J. Crew. Thomas Mason shirts have an authentic, classical feel that not many brands out there have, plus they make sure to use a wide variety of colors and patterns. That is what makes this brand a must have and must wear around the office this summer. 

Want Something Exclusive this Summer? 

A few amazing handmade men's slim fit dress shirts shouldn’t be missing from your wardrobe. Handmade shirts give you an exclusive one of a kind edge. Get it hand tailored exactly to your measurements so it’s comfortable for those long summer days when you need to be anything but uncomfortable. Have a beautifully handmade slim fit shirt will also give you that extra boost of confidence you might need for that meeting with your boss, investors or clients. Or maybe to finally ask that girl out you have been wanting to ask out on a date for a long time. She won’t be able to resist you in a handmade men’s slim fit dress shirt! 

What Colors Should you Wear this Summer?

The colors you wear are very important. There is a lot of scientific research that shows that our brains associate colors and emotion. For example: White gives people a very neutral, sterile feeling, while blue gets people relaxed, focussed and awake. Why do you think Facebook and Twitter are blue? That is some fine psychology at play right there. You can use these proven scientific facts to influence your clients, colleagues and even your boss a little. Wear a shirt in a certain colour to make them associate you with a certain feeling. Of course, they won’t suddenly start to like you if you wear a certain colour, but it will get you in the right direction. And, you can use it to influence yourself, too! Got the feeling you are trapped in a cubicle too much? Wear a green shirt. Your brain has associated the colour green with the great outdoors, so by seeing the colour green you will immediately start to feel way less trapped. This may come in handy when it’s a hot summer day and you’re working inside an office. 

Match It Up 

Match your clothes up. Not just the colours and the patterns of your shirt, but also things like ties and blazers. This summer ties don’t just have to be made of silk. Try a denim tie for a change! Looks great, especially with a nice white or dark blue and white striped Thomas Mason shirt. Wear a nice and classy blazer every once in a while. 

YOU WILL LIKE THIS: How to Dress for Success

 This summer will bring a lot of opportunities and if you look right you will be ready to take them on!

*by andreascy*

You can't Attend a Business Meeting Without the Right Shirt

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Everyone has to attend a business meeting every once in a while. It’s important to make a good impression during every meeting, but you can’t do that without the right shirt. 

Whether it’s a meeting with your boss, your colleagues or new clients, if you don’t wear the right clothes you are probably not making a very good impression. It’s time to change that!

What Shirt Should You Wear During What Meeting? 

Each type of meeting has their own “dress code” so to speak. The clothes you wear, and especially your shirt tells the people you have a meeting with a lot about your attitude towards your work. So, what shirt belongs to what meeting? 

1. A Meeting With the Boss 

It’s time to look as professional as possible. Think Van laack shirts in Van Laack tailor fit. These shirts have an amazing professional feel about them. The Van Laack shirts are completely tailored to fit you smoothly to give you the perfect professional look you need during a meeting with your boss. 

Examples of what to wear: A blue or white shirt with a matching tie. Also consider wearing a blazer in a matching colour. Match a light blue shirt, with a black or grey tie and a dark blue blazer. Or go classic with a white shirt, a black tie and a black blazer. 

2. A Meeting With Your Colleagues 

The number one reason to dress like a professional is so other people perceive you as a professional. Keep this in mind when you have a meeting with your colleagues, because their impression of you matters when it comes to your work relationship. Dress like a professional, but don’t overdo it. Don’t make it too flashy. 

Examples of what to wear: Go with the flow of your colleagues. Do they wear business casual then you should, too. Professional? Wear a tie. Unlike in meetings with your boss a little more colour is appreciated! 

3. A Meeting With Your Clients 

Dress for success and make sure you don’t differentiate too much of what your clients wear. Are they in suits, then you should be as well. Do they wear business casual shirts? You might want to do that, too. This helps to influence the way your clients feel when they have a meeting with you. 

Examples of what to wear: Go for cheerful colours if the dress code of your office allows this. Think something like a white and soft yellow striped shirt, or maybe one with blue plaid. Go casual with short sleeves or stay with long sleeves. Anything is possible. 

4. A Job Interview 

This is a business meeting, too, and as such you need to dress to the occasion. You want to have a good first impression and as you probably know people judge a book by its cover. You need to look professional, like you can handle anything the new job will throw in your way. Especially when you are applying for a job at a large firm. Maybe it’s time to get a handmade men's regular fit dress shirt that will look extremely well on you with a tie and a blazer.

Examples of what to wear: Just as the meeting with a boss you should think grey, white, black and (dark) blue colours as these give you a professional look. This depends on the tone of the company, of course, but especially large firms prefer that their employees dress according to the sometimes unwritten dress code so it’s good to immediately start off on the right foot. 

5. The “Casual” Companies 

As you’ve probably noticed the aforementioned meetings are all focused on companies that have a few strict rules on how their staff should dress. But, what about companies that focus on design and other creative artworks, or small businesses? What do you wear during a meeting of a company that isn’t as strict on dress codes? It’s time to go business casual! Of course this doesn’t go for all small businesses, but most startups and small businesses want to keep that comfortable, familiar feel. Suits just don’t cut it, although a nice dress shirt without a tie might. 

Examples of what to wear: Think about a plaid casual shirt, with for example jeans. Keep it neat and professional, but loosen it up a bit. Roll up those sleeves, keep the top button open. Keep it both casual and professional!

Conclusion

Getting ready for your next business meeting? Then you should look and feel good! Depending on the industry, consider those 5 real life examples that will get you through the meeting. Start dressing for success!

READ ALSO: Tech Gadgets That Make Traveling a Breeze

Do you have any tips? Your help and feedback is always appreciated!

*by andreascy*

5 Keys To Launching A Startup

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Launching a new business can be both exciting and intimidating. It’s exciting because it is introducing something new into the world. At the same time, it’s intimidating because there are numerous unknown factors to consider, complex concepts to learn, and dreams to validate. 

One way to get to a good start when it comes to launching your own business is to find out if it’s a good idea, create a plan, build a team, use good technology, and model best practices.

1. Find Out If It’s a Good Idea

A business idea worth pursing has to be validated. There has to be a market for the product or service. Customers should either want or need it. The vision has to align with the opportunity. Besides validating the idea, you should also research the scope of the idea. Can the idea be improved, scaled up, or adapted to different markets?

2. Create a Business Plan

Your business plan is a formalized decision-making process about mission and values, business structure and revenues. These plans will serve as a blueprint to raise money and shape policies. When setting up the proposed budget, it’s a good idea to assume zero profits in the first year of operations. This does not mean that there will be no profits; it just means that should things not go according to plan, there will be enough money available to pay the rent, keep the lights on, and retain employees.

3. Build a Core Team 

Despite the prevailing myth about the self-made man or woman, all businesses are actually a team effort. You should build a core team early to design the business’s philosophy. It’s essential to build this team built around shared values, aspirations, and ideals because a team that lacks a unified perspective faces the risk of falling apart due to dissension. A cohesive team will work together to evolve the groundbreaking decisions necessary to launch and grow a new business.

4. Use Good Technology

Technology is no longer something to add to a business. It is more like one of the foundations of business. Like office walls and furniture, technology is essential to the infrastructure of a business. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MegaPath, a company that builds Ethernet-based networks, summed up the intrinsic value of technology in a business when he said, “In today’s competitive environment, businesses require solutions that help them improve the way they do business, while reducing costs”.

5. Model Best Practices

While your initial research may have validated that your idea is a feasible one, you will get a head start if you model the best practices of those in the same or similar fields. This will give you a template to work from as you develop your business. There is no point wasting time and money reinventing the wheel. Instead, use the knowledge and wisdom gained from others who have gone before you. This borrowed model will help to shape and reshape your own business model. A model is not about imitating what other businesses are doing but about observing what works and what does not work. Additionally, a model need not be derived entirely from a single business. It could be a compilation of different businesses. 

Summary

By finding out if your inspired vision is a good idea, creating a plan, building a core team, using good technology, and modeling the best practices of other businesses, you are taking practical steps to develop a firm foundation for the success of your business.

RECOMMENDED: You can't Attend a Business Meeting Without the Right Shirt

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Inventors : The People Behind the Way We Live

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description : 

There are certain items we use every day, including our refrigerators, cell phones and light switches that we don’t really consider the history behind. A tremendous amount of work has gone into our most valued inventions.

Most of us board an airplane without a thought into the history behind it. We don’t usually consider the first sustained flight by the Wright Brothers in 1903 or Lindbergh’s first nonstop trans-Atlantic flight in 1927 but we have been flying in commercial jets since the 1940s.

Despite the fact that electricity was not fully explored until the 1800s, William Gilbert explored effects of related materials as early as 1570. It was nearly 200 years later that Benjamin Franklin completed his famous kite experiments. Every time we flush a toilet or turn on the faucet we use indoor plumbing, which established roots in the 1590s with the invention of the first flush toilet.

From: BestCollegesOnline.org

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*by andreascy* 

NASA Issues Call for Visionary Advanced Technology Concepts

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

NASA's Space Technology Program is looking for far-out ideas. The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts, or NIAC, program is seeking proposals for revolutionary concepts with the potential to transform future aerospace missions. Proposed concepts should enable new capabilities or significantly alter current approaches to launching, building and operating space systems. 

NIAC projects are chosen for their innovative and visionary characteristics, technical substance, and early development stage -- ten years or more from use on a mission. NIAC's current portfolio of diverse and innovative ideas represents multiple technology areas, including power, propulsion, structures and avionics.

"NIAC is a forward-looking program that captures what's great about America's space program," said Michael Gazarik, director of NASA's Space Technology Program at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "NASA is looking for futuristic concepts that may enable leaps forward in how we work in and explore the space frontier. Equally important, we're asking for ideas from all sources: American citizen-inventors or educators working out of their garage to the visionary small business owners fueling our nation's economy."

 

This second call for proposals follows last summer's inaugural selection of Phase I concepts, which are now under study. Due to the tremendous response and large number of submissions received from last year's NIAC call for proposals, this year's Phase I solicitation will incorporate a two-step process. 

 

NIAC will accept short proposals, limited to two pages in length, until Feb. 9. After review, NASA will invite those whose concepts are of interest to the agency to submit a full proposal of no more than ten pages. Full proposals will be due April 16.

 

NASA expects to fund approximately 15 proposals in this year's Phase I process. Those selected will receive up to $100,000 for one year to advance the innovative space technology concept and help NASA meet current operational and future mission requirements. Selection announcements are expected this summer. The solicitation is open to all U.S. citizens and researchers working in the United States, including NASA civil servants.

 

The number of awards will depend on the strength of proposals and availability of appropriated funds. The number of Phase I awards also will be balanced with NASA's selection of Phase II awards. Phase II awards will be selected from Phase I concepts submitted last year that the agency decides to advance. 

 

Past NIAC Phase I proposals have included a broad range of imaginative and creative ideas, including: changing the course of dangerous orbital debris; a spacesuit that uses flywheels to stabilize and assist astronauts as they work in microgravity; the use of 3-dimensional printing to create a planetary outpost; microbial fuel cell technology for powering tiny robot explorers; and other innovative propulsion and power concepts needed for future space mission operations.

 

NASA's early investment and partnership with creative scientists, engineers and citizen inventors will pay huge technological dividends and help maintain America's leadership in the global technology economy.

 

NIAC is part of NASA's Space Technology Program, managed by the Office of the Chief Technologist. To view the NASA Research Announcement for this NIAC Phase I solicitation, and for more information about NIAC and NASA's Space Technology Program, visit this link.

SEE ALSO: NASA Is Seeking For New Astronauts

Stay tuned for more interesting news!

*by andreascy*