Two documented research-support pathways
These two cases were chosen because they contain government-interest statements. They illustrate attributable reported support, not its prevalence, a commercial result or an accepted partner role. Cohort grants remain 2015–2025; live application histories and NSF records were retrieved on 28 October 2026.
US9087694: Ultra-large grain polycrystalline semiconductors through top-down aluminum induced crystallization (TAIC)
Grant: 2015-07-21; application: 13905966. Document source organizations: Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas; Silicon Solar Solutions, LLC.
The patent's government-interest statement explicitly identifies IIP-1248962.
Official NSF award 1248962: SBIR Phase I: Self Aligned Hydrogenated Selective Emitter for N-Type Solar Cells. Recipient organization: Silicon Solar Solutions; award dates: 01/01/2013–12/31/2013. Official award record.
A university-assignee patent explicitly cites a company-recipient NSF SBIR award. Ask the participants to explain the research relationship and any usable access; no license or commercial uptake is inferred.
USPTO selected-case metadata, assignments and events were retained as sanitized projections. Recorded and executed dates remain separate; these records do not determine legal title or establish a license or sale.
US12139559: Crosslinked colloidal cellulose nanocrystals and methods of preparation and use thereof
Grant: 2024-11-12; application: 17479053. Document source organizations: Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas.
The patent's government-interest statement explicitly identifies OIA-1457888.
Official NSF award 1457888: RII Track-1: Arkansas Advancing and Supporting Science, Engineering, and Technology (ASSET) III - Multifunctional and Tunable Nanostructured Surfaces. Recipient organization: Arkansas Science & Technology Authority; award dates: 08/01/2015–07/31/2021. Official award record.
A cellulose-nanocrystal patent explicitly cites Arkansas's NSF EPSCoR Track-1 award. Ask how the underlying materials capability could serve a defined application test; this is a documented support link, not a causal impact estimate.
USPTO selected-case metadata, assignments and events were retained as sanitized projections. Recorded and executed dates remain separate; these records do not determine legal title or establish a license or sale.
The semiconductor case's statement names the National Science Foundation and its SBIR award. The automated government-organization table also tags the Small Business Administration because SBIR appears in the text. That parsed program/organization tag is not evidence that SBA funded this invention. Exact statements and verified award records take precedence over inferred agency counts.
The cellulose case connects the patent statement to NSF award 1457888, whose official title identifies Arkansas's RII Track-1 ASSET III program. This strengthens a specific historical research-support connection for materials; it does not quantify programme-wide commercialization or returns.