Is there a preference for off-the-shelf commercial software vs. an application built from scratch?
FHWA does not have a preference for off-the-shelf software as opposed to a scratch-built application. The premise of SBIR remains innovation and then application. The need to develop baseline software architecture to carry out research ideas may be complicated, and hard to effectively distribute to a network of users, but FHWA should not at this juncture make dampening decisions. If the researcher’s concepts require new foundations, then it is up to the researcher to decide how the concepts should be implemented. Phase 1 or Phase 2 are not intended to be sponsored projects but opportunities to introduce and then demonstrate original thinking. The best success from an SBIR topic is universal acceptance and application.
Related Questions
- Is there a difference between portals in the JISC Information Environment and portals built outside this with commercial portal software or Internet portals such as MyNetscape?
- How can external software and hardware resources be accessed from an application built in Gedae?
- What are the negatives of purchasing commercial, off-the-shelf software?
