SBIR's Big Dog Barks - Is the House listening?

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The Big Dog in the SBIR world is the Department of Defense. After being silent for a long time regarding SBIR reauthorization, the Big Dog barked last week. Loudly.

The House and Senate Armed Services Committees (ASC), evidently fed up with the inability of the Small Business Committees in the House and Senate to agree on SBIR reauthorization, decided to preempt them and simply do it as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. They effectively incorporated the Senate's version of SBIR reauthorization into the NDAA. It almost worked. [Read the whole story HERE and keep informed at SBIRreauthorization.com.]

Maybe it should have. After all, DOD has over half of the total SBIR and STTR budget. They deserve a seat at the table -- maybe at the head of the table. NIH has gotten most of Congress's SBIR attention as of late, and not in a very good light either. If it were up to some of the NIH's supporters, the SBIR Program would likely die -- they've as much as said so. Clearly the DOD's supporters won't let that happen.

When the House Small Business Committee cried foul, claiming jurisdictional authority (Stay in your own yard, Big Dog!) the ASCs agreed to withdraw the reauthorization language and give Congress another year to get it done -- but the DOD's SBIR, STTR and CPP programs are to be unilaterally extended (as is) to September 30, 2010. Essentially the NDAA provides a continuing resolution just for DOD.

Big Dog has barked. Big Dog has agreed to sit and stay, but only for a year. But it will provide innovative technology project funding for its small business community for that year - NO MATTER WHAT.

It couldn't be clearer. The Senate's SBIR reauthorization bill is the one that DOD supports. Hello! Is the House listening?

We've another deadline looming. Halloween. October 31st. The DOD's SBIR program will continue (assuming the NDAA is signed), but the other Agency SBIR programs will expire at the stroke of midnight on Halloween unless something happens.

Will they get it done by then? Unlikely. My bet - another CR. The fifth in this long, drawn out drama. Why should Big Dog wait alone in the yard?

Appropriate this is happening around Halloween. Time for costumes, parties, and trick-or-treaters. Trick-or-treaters are totally self serving. Grabbing goodies while masquerading in an assumed persona. Threatening consequences if not indulged.

Hmmm... do I sense a metaphor here? Our Congresspersons as self serving trick-or-treaters? Most wearing donkey and elephant costumes? Staying in character or be banished from the Party? Instead of candy, they want our money (taxes) and power? If they don't get it, we're all going to suffer some dire consequence? Naw....it couldn't be that simple! Or could it? Now that's scary!

Will SBIR be invited to the legislative Halloween Party? We're not bringing much in the way of treats. Only $2 Billion or so. And it's not even new money. Boring. Sort of pales into insignificance in the big picture. So maybe more tricks.

I wonder what costumes HSBC Chairwoman Velazquez and HS&T Subcommittee Chairman Wu are wearing to the Party? Hopefully their hearing won't be muffled and they'll heed Big Dog's barks. Please.
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Whither Goest Seed Funding?

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SBIR's future is uncertain. The VC industry is hunkering down and tightening the screws on their portfolio companies. They even look to SBIR's "reform" as a way to "prop up portfolio valuations".

So what is the future of seed funding? We're about find out what those who are in the forefront of the seed funding world think about that.

The National Association of Seed Venture Funds (NASVF) international conference, which brings together hundreds of the most prominent seed and angel investors with technology transfer and economic development professionals, takes place September 14-16th in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Here is a partial list of some of the world class experts that will be speaking:

-Honorable Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack, will talk about his department's big investments in research and development to improve the food industry.

-Rick G. Wade, deputy chief of staff for the US Department of Commerce, will talk about the various programs and ways his department supports entrepreneurship.

-Wendy Kennedy, founder of WendyKennedy.com, Inc., will explain how to turn ideas into financial opportunities.

The SBIR Coach (a member of NASVF) is an invited speaker, and will be on a panel with Wendy Kennedy. Our topic is:

Translating Science into Business When Funding is Tight

History has proven that during times of economic stress is when we see a garden of opportunities – ideas that have the ability to transform markets – witness the Ipod, Google and Amazon during the recession of early 2000. Spotting winning ideas and business models in these uncertain times takes a disciplined, yet creative approach. Savvy investors are even more rigorous in their assessment of risk and return. But what else is needed besides a sound technology and business plan? What types of technologies are being funded at the state and federal levels? This panel will address some key issues funders should consider before they invest in a technology venture in the near future.

For information on the NASVF Conference, go HERE.

There are a whole bunch of SBIR opportunities out there at the moment:

• USDA SBIR (due Sept 3rd)
• NASA SBIR/STTR (due Sept 4th)
• DOE SBIR/STTR (due Sept 4th)
• NIH SBIR/STTR AIDS related (due Sept 7th)
• DOD SBIR/STTR (due Sept 23rd)
• NSF SBIR/STTR (due Nov 17th)
• NIH SBIR/STTR (due Dec 5th)

See the details on The SBIR Gateway, including a matching service for DOD and NASA STTR partnerships.

By the way, Boeing has issued its Interest List for the current DOD SBIR and STTR rounds. If you'd like a copy, send me an email.

I had the opportunity to meet Karen Mills, the new SBA Administrator, at the SCORE National Leadership Conference in Salt Lake City this week. We were both speakers. Her message: DON'T STOP TALKING TO LEGISLATORS ABOUT SBIR!

So, keep on educating House and Senate members. SBIR reauthorization isn't over until it's over.
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Clean & Renewable Energy SBIRs - From the NIH!

I expect Clean and Green SBIR topics from the DOE and the EPA, and even from the DOD, but today's email from the NIH was a real surprise. The NIH is looking for clean and renewable energy SBIR and STTR proposals for projects in a wide variety of applications. This could be a great economic stimulus for small businesses who never considered applying for an NIH grant before. Here's a partial list:

• Technologies to optimize battery usage and/or energy consumption by medical devices (e.g., hearing aids, dental hand-pieces, chairs, lights), imaging technology (e.g., dental X-ray technology, magnetic resonance imaging systems), radiation therapy equipment (e.g., accelerators for proton radiotherapy), or chair/bed-side information technology (computers and displays).
• Technologies to optimize energy consumption during production and delivery of medical radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals.
• Development of batteries with increased storage capacity and/or increased number of charge/discharge cycles.
• Patient monitoring technology that decreases transportation to medical facilities.
• Remote diagnostics and medical care.
• Technology development for manufacture of medical device power sources, such as increased energy density, increased number of charge/discharge cycles before battery failure, solar cells, kinetic to electrical current conversion, and fuel cells.
• Circulatory support systems: Implantable rechargeable batteries and alternate power sources and transcutaneous energy transmission systems
• Compact Implantable Defibrillators
• Respiratory support systems (e.g., artificial lungs, ventilators, CPAP machines): Implantable rechargeable batteries and alternate power sources
• More portable oxygen delivery systems with alternative energy sources
• Robotics and computer assisted surgery
• Mathematical and computer modeling of biological systems
• Information systems to coordinate patient management
• Bioinformatics and interactive databases

And that's only about half of the list! Here's the links to the announcement with the full list:

SBIR: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-100.html

STTR: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-101.html

As you can see, this opens up the NIH funding opportunity to a whole new array of technology companies. It's not just bio-tech and pharma anymore! NIH SBIR and STTR proposals are due by April 6th, so don't delay getting started on this. You'll have to download special Grants.gov templates for preparing proposals for these topics. Use the PA numbers in the URLs in the FON block of Basic Search to do it. Confused? You know who to call for help!

My friend Rich Hendel at Boeing sent me their interest list for the DOD's 2009.A STTR round today. Proposals for that are due by March 25th. Send me an email if you'd like a copy of the Boeing list.

I sent out the SBIR Coach's Newsletter for February yesterday. The Special Topic is "How to Protect Your SBIR Data Rights". Copy is downloadable from the website's Newsletter page.

And, finally, please don't forget to send those Legislator Letters on SBIR Reauthorization. Template letter is on the website. As they say at Nike: JUST DO IT!
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Small Business/University Tech-Transfer Matchmaking - Just in time for Valentine's Day!

This idea could produce a match made in heaven -- well at least in Tech-Transfer heaven! Small technology businesses who are looking to win Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants now have a way to solve a heretofore tough problem -- how to find universities or other research institutions with the appropriate capabilities to partner with.

Thanks to some innovative thinking from Rick Shindell, publisher of The SBIR Gateway, there's now a way for both research institutions and small businesses to register their capabilities and STTR topic interest in a Gateway database, and then use the Gateway's search engine to find that elusive partner.

Starting February 12th, appropriately evolving on Darwin Day, small businesses in search of a DOD STTR research partner are able to query the database and see which research organizations may be interested in partnering on selected topics. It also works the other way - small business can register their interests and research institutions can find them via this matchmaking service.

In announcing this new Gateway service, Rick said:

"Most of us have had some negative consequences due to the economy and/or the investment community. Many universities and colleges have incurred major losses to their endowment funds, and that includes their Science & Technology sector. Entities that previously thought STTR was too small to bother with are now interested in becoming involved.

I've talked with many small and medium sized universities that have said it is hard to find interested and qualified small businesses for partnering in STTR. I also hear from small businesses that they have a hard time finding an interested university or federally funded R&D center (including DOD and DOE National Laboratories) in an STTR project.

As with all of our SBIR Gateway projects, this service is free and is offered in the hope that it will stimulate interest in the STTR program, promote strong partnerships, create and/or preserve jobs, and be of benefit to the sponsoring agency and their mission."

Rick told me that the response he's gotten to this has been exceptionally strong. He's hopeful that this experiment will prove to be a winner. My bet is that we'll see an upsurge in STTR proposals as a result of this initiative. I know for a fact that several of my clients abandoned plans to submit STTR proposals in the past because they just could not find the right university research partner.

See the STTR Matchmaking facility on the SBIR Gateway at: STTR PARTNERING. Proposals in the current DOD STTR round are due March 25th. There's still time to talk to TPOCs, so don't delay in finding that perfect partner!

SBIR Reauthorization Update

The SBIR Coach got back from Washington DC after the Reauthorization Fly-In earlier this week energized to do what it takes to ensure continuance of the SBIR opportunity as the best small business stimulus that this nation has ever implemented. We talked to many House and Senate staffers to carry forth the primary message: PLEASE DON'T LET THE SBIR PROGRAM DIE ON MARCH 20TH.

Thanks to hard work by Jere Glover of the SBTC and Alec Orban of NSBA, we were organized and armed with compelling data, and everyone I talked to seemed to get the message. In a nutshell, it doesn't appear possible that the House and Senate will be able to reach agreement on the issues in the few weeks between now and March 20th, so another Continuing Resolution must be passed to further extend the SBIR expiration deadline and allow us to continue the debate.

This weekend I will compose my letter that I will be sending to our legislators and will post it on my website. You will be able to copy and paste it onto your own letterhead for editing and sending. I'll be sending a FLASH Newsletter to my clients when it's ready. If you'd like to be included in that notice, please subscribe to my Newsletter. We need to alert as many legislators as possible as soon as they return from the Presidents' Day congressional recess.

UPDATE: 2/15/09. The Legislator Letter is posted on my website, and the FLASH Newsletter has been emailed to my clients. Click the links to see them. Please send some letters!
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Boeing wants to help you win DOD SBIRs and STTRs

The Boeing Corporation continues its support of entrepreneurial technology development by providing a list of Boeing people who are interested in collaborative support of SBIR and STTR projects sponsored by the Department of Defense's 2008.3 SBIR and STTR solicitation. It's very rare that the DOD will offer new STTR topics this late in the year. Typically all STTR opportunities are open only in the Spring.

If the topic you're planning to respond to appears on Boeing's list, it would be a productive strategy to seek collaborative support for your application from Boeing. They'll provide letters of support (when appropriate) with the objective of participating in development (Phases I and II) leading to the ultimate commercialization of the developed technology (Phase III) by integrating it into Boeing solutions.

The DOD will begin accepting proposals on August 25th and proposals are due by September 24th. You have one more week (effectively until August 22nd) to contact the DOD Technical Point of Contact on the topic for clarification of the requirements. All serious applicants are strongly encouraged to do so.

If you'd like a copy of the Boeing list, please send me an email request. My website has my email address.

Help get SBIR reauthorized!

"Hi y'all! This is my inaugural blog posting! I'm new at blogging, but not new to the SBIR world, having been involved with it since the mid 80s, shortly after it began.

I'm hoping to get some spirited conversation going here, and hopefully convey some useful information to SBIR applicants and awardees.

The big issue at the moment is the SBIR reauthorization bill currently being worked by the Senate. The House passed a real dog of a bill, and fortunately, the Senate declared it DOA. Something must be done by September 30th, or SBIR will die, so time is short.

For the most up-to-date reauthorization info, check out The SBIR Gateway, where my friend Rick Shindell is doing a great job of keeping up with everything.

If you have an opinion on this important issue (and you should!), Jere Glover (SBIR's strongest advocate in DC) at the SBTC has some good templates for letting your Senators and Representatives know how you feel.

Leave a comment (click on the "comments" link below) and get involved today! More later...

Fred Patterson
The SBIR Coach ®