![\"Tatjana](\"http:\/\/www.financenewmexico.org\/userfiles\/Tania%2014.JPG\")
Tatjana Rosev, Los Alamos Nat'l Lab Communications Office<\/p><\/div>\n
The next-best thing to free money is available through two federal programs for small businesses involved in technology and innovation.<\/p>\n
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) is the larger of the two programs, and it will provide about $2.5 billion this year in grants and contracts to small and start-up businesses to develop products, technology or services that solve pressing problems in agriculture, defense, education, energy, transportation, the environment, space exploration, health and other areas. Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) requires the small or start-up business to team with a nonprofit research entity, such as a university or federal laboratory, and generally involves a transfer of technology, know-how or expertise from that institution to the company\u2019s project. <\/p>\n
Eleven federal agencies \u2014\u00a0including the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, NASA and National Science Foundation \u2014\u00a0offer SBIR grants, and five offer STTR grants. Both programs provide money that doesn\u2019t have to be repaid, and the business doesn\u2019t have to surrender equity. But, as federal programs, the grants are subject to federal procurement regulations.
\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThey also are not \u2018free\u2019 in that you can\u2019t just take the money and do whatever you want; you have to do the work you promised,\u201d said Gail Greenwood of Greenwood Consulting Group. Greenwood and her husband, Jim, contract with Los Alamos National Security \u2014 the public-private entity that runs Los Alamos National Laboratory \u2014 to give workshops on these federal programs as part of the lab\u2019s commitment to support\u00a0Northern New Mexico businesses through Northern New Mexico Connect.<\/p>\n
Show me the money<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n SBIR and STTR are designed for high-risk, untested innovations, not for conventional enterprises, such as retail or service, or for technology companies with proven ideas, Gail Greenwood said. <\/p>\n In Phase I of a project, recipients receive about $100,000 to conduct a technical feasibility study that shows how the innovation will solve a pressing problem. In Phase II, recipients may receive an additional $750,000 to expand and complete research and development. In Phase III, recipients must commercialize the results of the first two phases \u2014 and they have to do so without additional money from these programs. <\/p>\n \u201cYou are expected to move the project out of the lab and into the marketplace,\u201d Jim Greenwood said. \u201cYou might do this yourself, or you might license or sell the innovation to someone else who does, but \u2026 (these programs are) about putting solutions to real problems into the hands of consumers, industry, soldiers, doctors, farmers, or whoever is appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n Businesses often find that SBIR or STTR backing helps them attract additional funding from venture capitalists and other investors who otherwise would be unwilling to invest in getting an untested idea to market, Gail Greenwood said. <\/p>\n It does happen here<\/strong><\/p>\n In case you assume New Mexico is low on the list of states that receive grants from these programs, Jim Greenwood can assure you otherwise. \u201cNew Mexico consistently ranks in the top five states in terms of the number of SBIR\/STTR awards per capita,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Data compiled by LANL indicate that since 2002, small businesses in New Mexico cities such as Socorro, Las Cruces, Placitas, Vallecitos, Silver City, Datil, Corrales, Taos and Mesilla Park have received about $150 million in SBIR and STTR, Jim Greenwood said. <\/p>\n And, while some companies in New Mexico win numerous SBIR and STTR awards, about one-third to one-half of the Phase I grants awarded nationally each year go to companies that have never won an award from these programs before, he said.<\/p>\n For more information about these programs, visit the Small Business Administration Web site<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Download 51_Two Federal Programs Offer Business Grants PDF<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An overview of the STTR and SBIR programs for technology start-ups is provided. Continue reading