Learn how to participate in federal Small Business Innovation Research grants at a SBIR Informational Session at 4 p.m. April 4 in West Wing Room 440 of the Haslam Business Building.
The event is hosted by the UT Research Foundation, Three Roots Capital, and the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in UT’s Haslam College of Business. The event is open to the public, but registration is required.
The 90-minute session provides a brief overview of the SBIR program and incentives provided by the state of Tennessee. Participants will hear from a panel of three local SBIR veterans who together have raised several million dollars in research and development funding for their companies.
Topics include strategies for successfully competing and winning SBIR funding awards and making connections to successful award winners. Featured speakers will be Steven Ripp, research associate professor in UT’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering Research and Center for Environmental Biotechnology; Christopher Rey, president and founder of Tai-Yang Research Company; and Lee Martin, industrial and systems engineering professor of practice and engineering entrepreneurship director at UT.
Federal research agencies like the National Science Foundation, US Department of Defense, US Department of Energy, and National Institutes of Health collectively set aside over $2.5 billion annually for SBIR grants.
These grants are available to small businesses to prove feasibility, develop prototypes, and commercialize technologies. The program is a peer-reviewed competitive grant program that can provide hundreds of thousands of dollars to a startup to help prepare the technology for market entry.
In addition, most agencies provide programs for grantees to develop their business model in parallel with their development to ensure they are ready to compete in their chosen marketplace. Some startups have raised several million dollars through the SBIR program.
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CONTACT:
Carrie McCamey (865-974-5126, cbaker14@utk.edu)
Tyra Haag (865-974-5460, tyra.haag@tennessee.edu)