AN ASSESSMENT OF THE SBIR PROGRAM

Transcription

1 AN ASSESSMENT OF THE SBIR PROGRAM Committee for Capitalizing on Science, Technology, and Innovation: An Assessment of the Small Business Innovation Research Program Policy and Global Affairs Charles W. Wessner, Editor NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS Washington, D.C.

2 Contents PREFACE xiii SUMMARY 1 1 INTRODUCTION Program History and Structure, The SBIR Development Act of 1982, The SBIR Reauthorizations of 1992 and 2000, Previous Research on SBIR, The Structure and Diversity of SBIR, Role of SBIR in the U.S. Innovation Ecosystem, The Importance of Small Business Innovation, Challenges Facing Small Innovative Firms, The Challenge of Market Commercialization, The Federal Role in Addressing Early-stage Financing Gap, SBIR: Strengths and Limitations, SBIR: A Tool for Entrepreneurs to Innovate, SBIR's Advantages for Government, SBIR's Role in Knowledge Creation: Publications and Patents, SBIR and the University Connection, Assessing SBIR, The Challenges of Assessment, Addressing SBIR Challenges, 48 IX

3 X CONTENTS 1.5 Changing Perceptions about SBIR, 52; SBIR Around the World, Conclusion, 53 2 FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 54 3 STATISTICS OF SBIR AWARDS Introduction, SBIR Phase I Awards, SBIR Phase II Awards, Oversized Awards NIH, Applications and Success Rates, Geographical Distribution, Gauging Participation by Women and Minorities, Multiple Award Winners and New Entrants, New Program Participants, SBIR PROGRAM OUTPUTS Introduction, Compared to What?, Commercialization, Challenges of Commercialization, Commercialization Indicators and Benchmarks, Sales and Licensing Revenues, Additional Investment Funding, Additional SBIR Funding, SBIR Impact on Further Investment, Small Company Participation and Employment Effects, Sales of Equity and Other Company-level Activities, Commercialization: Conclusions, Agency Mission, Procedural Alignment of SBIR Programs and Agency Mission, Program Outcomes and Agency Mission, Support for Small, Woman-owned, and Disadvantaged Businesses, Support for Woman- and Minority-owned Firms, Small Business Support, Project-level Impacts, SBIR Impacts Different Types of Companies in Different Ways, Growth Effects, Conclusions, 154

4 CONTENTS XI 4.5 Multiple-Award Winners and New Program Entrants, The Incidence of Multiple-Award Winners, Commercialization and Multiple-Award Winners, The Incidence of New Entrants, SBIR and the Expansion of Knowledge, Patents, Scientific Publications, SBIR and Universities, Conclusions, PROGRAM MANAGEMENT Introduction, Topic Generation and Utilization, Acquisition-oriented Approaches, Management-oriented Approaches to Topic Utilization, Investigator-driven Approaches, Topics: Conclusions, Outreach Mechanisms and Outcomes, Introduction, Outreach Mechanisms, Outreach Outcomes, Conclusions Outreach, Award Selection, Introduction, Approaches to Award Selection, Fairness, Efficiency, Other Issues, Selection Conclusions, Funding Cycles and Timelines, The Standard Model, The Gap-reduction Model, Conclusions, Award Size and Beyond, Size/Duration of Phase I, Size/Duration of Phase II, Extra-large Phase II Awards at NIH, Supplementary Funding, Bridge Funding to Phase III, Reporting Requirements and Other Technical Issues, Commercialization Support, Commercialization Planning, Business Training, 213

5 xil CONTENTS 5.9 Conclusions, Differentiation and Flexibility, Fairness, Openness, and Selection_Pjocedures, Topics, Cycle Time, Award Size, Multiple Award Winners, Information Flows, Commercialization Support, 223 APPENDIXES A NRC Phase II Survey and NRC Firm Survey 227 B NRC Phase I Survey 252 C Case Studies 260 Advanced Ceramics Research, 261 Creare, Inc., 266 Faraday Technology, Inc., 275 Immersion Corporation, 286 ISCA Technology, Inc., 293 Language Weaver, 300 MicroStrain, Inc., 310 National Recovery Technology, Inc., 318 NVE Corporation, 326 Physical Sciences, Inc., 333 SAM Technologies, 340 Savi Technology, 349 Sociometrics Corporation, 353 D Bibliography 371