Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Federal Assistance For Small Businesses

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are two competitively awarded, highly specialized forms of federal funding for small firms (less than 500 employees) to perform cutting-edge R&D that addresses the nation's (government and industry) most critical scientific and engineering needs. These needs span the technology spectrum -- from aviation and agriculture to medicine and manufacturing. Annually over $2.4 billion in contracts and grants are awarded to small businesses by the 11 federal agencies participating in these programs.

For small business and startups engaged in research and development of innovative technology applications and seeking information on the federal SBIR/STTR programs, the University of Southern Mississippi’s Business & Innovation Assistance Center has developed and placed online a series of useful presentations describing these federal programs and how to better compete in them.

These presentations cover:

* the differences between contract and grant agencies and what this means to the company and the development of the proposal;

* tutorials and basic framework for writing the Phase 1 proposal;

* elements of developing a cost/budget proposal;

* Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) and their role in the SBIR proposal/project;

* development of partnerships and contracting with universities, consultants and other companies to support the Phase 1 project;

* SBIR and related federally funded R&D efforts and their role in the company and its business plan; and,

* The commercialization plan and Phase 3 commercialization

The presentations are available at: USM/BIAC