The Federal SBIR/STTR Programs

Transcription

1 The Federal SBIR/STTR Programs September 16, 2014 Presenter: Mark Henry Grow Emerging Companies LLC Depoe Bay, Oregon 2014 Grow Emerging Companies LLC 1

2 My Background and Grow-EC Have worked on more than 2,500 SBIR/STTR proposals over 34 years; helped win 175 of 350 SBIR s at Bend Research, including 83% of 72 Phase II awards. Have presented at more than 60 national SBIR meetings. Received D s in sportsmanship in grade school (I hate losing). but got A s in fiction-writing in college, which is why I help clients write SBIR/STTR R&D proposals (science and business fiction) for a living. Grow provides nationwide SBIR/STTR training and proposal support. Grow helps clients identify or create ideal SBIR/STTR opportunities and helps them Get Ready to Write. Grow supports the entire writing/registration/submission process. Grow provides pre- and post-award management services. Grow works with multiple state SBIR/STTR support programs. 2

3 One of Our Key Goals with Clients: Making sure clients avoid reviewer comments such as this one: The abstract is very clearly written, which makes it fairly easy to determine that there is little innovation or technical value in what s proposed. 3

4 SBIR/STTR Facts and Philosophies SBIR/STTR is one of the best opportunities out there for small, high-tech firms to seek early-stage R&D funding (IMO). You do not have to pay the money back or give up your company s equity to receive the funding. It is R&D money set aside for high-risk, high-payoff research conducted by small, for-profit firms. The anticipated commercial result should be high-impact. The congressional intent is to fund the highest-risk, early-stage portions of developing promising new ideas so that other government and private-sector money will then be invested to pursue follow-on R&D and commercialization of nextgeneration products and services. 4

5 Two Programs That Support Early-Stage, High- Risk R&D Projects for Small Firms Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program: ~$2.5 Billion per year Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program: ~$300 Million per year The funding is set aside as a portion of the external R&D budgets of 11 large federal agencies. Each agency opportunity is announced/described one or more times a year via SBIR/STTR solicitations. Grants are your ideas; contracts are their ideas. See or 5

6 SBIR/STTR Agencies (Rough estimates of funding levels) DoD - $1.25 billion HHS (NIH/CDC/FDA) - $850 million NASA - $120 million Energy - $120 million NSF - $100 million ==========================STTR CUT-OFF Homeland Security - $33 million Agriculture - $22 million Education - $9 million EPA - $8 million Commerce (NOAA/NIST) - $7 million Transportation - $4 million 6

7 SBIR/STTR Programs Three Phases (with significant variations in interpretation and implementation as well as starting/ending points, often tied to the grants vs. contracts and funding differences) Phase I: Proof-of-concept feasibility study (8%-15% win rates) Funding from ~$70K to $225K-plus Phase II: Prototype development, field-testing, demonstrations (40%-50% win rates) Funding from ~$250K to $1.5MM-plus. Phase III : Follow-on R&D and commercialization i.e., anything that happens after Phase II funding opportunities are exhausted 7

8 This very brief session is not about SBIR/STTR program details, but. there are critical issues to consider when assessing your fit with SBIR/STTR: 2/3 of Phase I work (often measured by money spent) and 1/2 of Phase II work must be performed by the small business for SBIR s A qualified, credible Principal Investigator (PI) must be primarily employed by your firm during period of performance for SBIR s Alternative rules apply for most STTR s in terms of work ratios and Principal Investigators 8

9 Steps We Believe Are Important When Pursuing SBIR/STTR Funding 1. Brainstorming and Pre-Qualification: Are the SBIR or STTR programs right for your firm i.e., is this how you should be spending your time? Have you identified the best possible agency and topic fit? Do you know the difference between a grant and a contract? Do you have a credible technical/business team? A PI? Does your idea fit the topic or topic area? Do you have strong preliminary data? 2. HOMEWORK: Up to 90% of the proposal effort may be focused on getting ready to write a competitive proposal. Homework includes pre-writing/outlining, budgeting, building a team, studying your competition and previous government projects, background research, etc. 9

10 Steps We Believe Are Important When Pursuing SBIR/STTR Funding 3. Proposal-Writing: Follow the rules and provide the information required in each section at a minimum. Set the stage, describe your R&D solution in detail, and describe the greatly improved future that your success will bring. Get a full draft done early enough for pre-submission critiques. 4. Critiques: Obtain outside technical and business reviews BEFORE YOU SUBMIT the proposal. Never allow government SBIR/STTR reviewers to be your first reviewers!! 5. Early Registration and Careful Preparation for Electronic Submission: Don t leave your company registration or submission details until the last minute. 10

11 Winning Proposal Characteristics Convincing argument about what is lacking in the current state of the art and why there is a NEED for your R&D project (vs. 8 or 12 others). Strong preliminary data and a credible, well-rounded technical/business team that gives reviewers confidence. Keep the scope focused and manageable and provide clear end points and measurable goals/success metrics. Provide substantial detail and rationale in the work plan, including contingency plans that show you understand how R&D works. Include your Phase III commercial vision and sell your ability to fully achieve the potential market impact. 11

12 Grow Emerging Companies LLC 551 Point Avenue Depoe Bay, OR Mark H. Henry Main Office: Cell: