Innovation Soup: SBIRSTTR

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Innovation Soup SBIR/STTR

• Mark Blanchard
• Technology Development Advisor
• VT Small Business Development Center

Grant Writing Workshop June 7, 2006
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Todays Menu

• Introduce SBIR/STTR basics
• Touch on the art of using this funding ingredient
• Kitchen Help

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A Rich Alphabet Soup

• SBA VDED UVM
• OSP GMAC EPSCoR
• SBIR
• DoD DOE DHS
• DHHS/NIH USDA DO-ED
• NSF DOT NIST
• NASA NOAA DOC
• EPA

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and VtSBDC

• A Partnership of Government, Education and
  Business with a mission
• To strengthen existing business entities and
  assist start-ups through high quality, no cost
  counseling, and high quality, affordable training
  programs.
• Funded by U.S. SBA and VT DED, among others

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Which Flavor Funding?

• Regular Research funding the RI
• Bigger, Longer, Broader
• IP Ownership per RI policy
• Strictures Guidance of OSP and Tech Transfer
  Offices
• Private Company SBIR/STTR
• Intellectual Property Value Captured
• Store of Value for Principals
• Innovation hits the Market
• Innovation Does Good the RI can do well

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Same Sauce, Two Flavors

• SBIR
• 2.5 of federal agency RD budgets set aside
  specifically for small business.
• 14 federal agencies participate.
• STTR
• Smaller program - 0.3 of federal agency RD
  budgets and 5 agencies.
• Requires small business collaboration with
  research institution.

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SBIR No Ordinary Acronym

• S Set aside for Small business
• 60 have people
• 50 have annual sales
• B Grantee must be a for-profit Business
• I Funds high risk Innovation RD projects
• R Funds over 2.2 Billion in FY 2006 for
  Research
• SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH

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Cooking up Money

• Research is the transformation of money into
  knowledge
• Innovation is the transformation of knowledge
  into money!
• Geoffrey Nicholson, 3M retired

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SBIR Spicing up your Stock

• Tried True recipe from the Feds.
• To fortify your Innovation, try SBIR. Mix it in
• Early
• Mid-way
• Late, or Repeatedly
• And dont forget about the other 97 of the RD
• So what are the key ingredients?

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Critical Seasoning

• A Taste for the Market
• A Glimmer of Commerce
• A Pinch of Desire to Participate
• A Dose of Delivery
• Reserved Tasty Bits of IP

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Three Layer Cake, Sort Of

• Phase I Proof of Concept Study
• 70,000 - 150,000
• 6 months
• Phase II Substantive RD
• Up to 750,000
• 2 years
• Phase III Commercialization
• Youre on your own (sort of). Typically private
  or non-SBIR government sources used to get to
  market.

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May You Partake?

• For profit business (or at least trying to be!)
• At least 51 U.S. owned independently operated.
• Must be physically located in U.S.
• Principal Investigators (PI) primary employment
  must be 51 with the small business.
• 500 or fewer employees, including affiliates.
• STTR PI employment can be with research
  institution.

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For the Birds Early Birds

• SBIR funds early-stage proof of concept
• You have to know your stuff, but
• You dont need a prototype
• --------------------------------------------------
  ------
• SBIR does not fund existing products
• SBIR is not for marketing

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Not for those of little appetite!

• Highly competitive Requires time investment
• Do your Homework look for fit between agency
  needs and your expertise.
• Talk to Agency Program People!
• Work plan Scope fits the Budget
• Project should fit comfortably into biz plan.
• Time frame must be appropriate for company and
  market.

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Trying a New Recipe

• Value of fixed Prep Time Done Date
• Testing the Idea of your Concoction
• Proof may not be in the Pudding but there still
  may be good aftertastes
• Definition is Gained, Collaborators Found

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Once you get a taste

• Layer SBIRs from the same or different Agencies
  Watch out for Overlapping
• Stir in with Regular Research Grants
• Use as part of your core RD funding
• Entice partners
• Intellectual Property owned by the Enterprise

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SBIR / STTR Solicitations

• DOD SBIR/STTR
• DHHS/NIH SBIR/STTR
• NSF SBIR/STTR
• NASA SBIR/STTR
• DOE SBIR/STTR
• USDA SBIR
• DOC SBIR
• EPA SBIR
• DOT SBIR
• DO-ED SBIR
• DHS SBIR
• 17 Programs in 11 Agencies

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Different Styles

• SBIR/STTR broad outlines set by law
• Agency implementations differ
• Art of Selecting Agencies a given idea may be
  posed to several
• If you need their dough, youll knead
  differently for each agency customer

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Their Recipe or Yours?

• Acquisition Oriented Agencies
• DoD, NASA, DOT
• Grantee Initiated Agencies
• NIH, NSF, USDA
• Others are in between

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Vt Smorgasbord of Winners

• From 1984, 55 Vermont businesses won 163 Phase I
  67 Phase II grants worth 44 million.
• They come in all shapes sizes
• ConceptsNREC Rocket Fuel Turbo Booster Pumps
• Beeken Parsons, - Character Wood Furniture
• Microstrain Inc. Remote Communication with
  embedded sensors
• Biomosaics Test for HTLV-1 Mediated in vivo
  t-cell expansion
• and they come from all around the State.

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For a good helping

• Innovative concept with real world use
• Know your stuff and state of the art
• Great team
• Read carefully, follow the solicitation rules
• Creative content, not proposal format
• Write well be Succinct Clear
• Viable Business Plan

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Techniques

• Define your Research Hypothesis
• Identify the Nuts, the Crunchy Bits
• Consider Variant Mixtures
• Pick a Solicitation Start Process Early
• Corral collaborators
• Take a rough cut at a Budget
• Get it down any way you can, Iterate.

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Top Desserts

• Not a Business Loan no repayment
• Seed money for high risk projects
• Leveraging tool for attracting risk capital
• Fosters partnerships (corp. academic)
• Creates jobs and generates tax revenue
• Builds Value
• Helps get your good to the world

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Get Cookin withVT EPSCoR SBIR Phase 0

• Pre-seed grant program for prelim. data
• Up to 10,000
• Solicitation for 2006 closed mid March. Try next
  year.
• Since 1992, 130 awards worth 900K
• www.uvm.edu/EPSCoR

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Piqued your appetite?Theres help in the kitchen

• VT SBIR/STTR Help Resources
• Office of Sponsored Research
• www.uvm.edu/ospuvm/
• Mark Blanchard, VtSBDC Tech Advisor
• mblancha_at_vtsbdc.org [phone]
• Paul Hale, Ph.D., VT Technology Council
• Paul.hale_at_uvm.edu
• GMAC at Thinkvermont.com
• SBIRWORLD.com, ZYN.com Agency Websites