setting the stage - navy sbirdept of commerce:nist feb 19, 2014 may 2, 2014 nov 13, 2013 jan 29,...
TRANSCRIPT
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Searching for SBIR/STTR Opportunities
National SBIR Conference
June 16, 2014 Washington, DC
Jim Greenwood, President
Greenwood Consulting Group, Inc.
1150 Junonia, Sanibel FL 33957
www.g-jgreenwood.com/sbir
Setting the Stage
• Jimmy Greenhorn learns about SBIR/STTR programs, gets excited about opportunity to advance his innovative solar technology
• Decides to look for agencies who might be interested
• Starts searching on the term “solar” for opportunities
• Search occurs at 9:30 pm, June 1, 2014
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WHAT AGENCIES FUND TOPICS IN YOUR AREA OF INTEREST?
*
Info
Processing
Electronics Materials Mechanical
Performance
Energy Environ &
Natural
Resources
Life
Sciences
DOD • • • • • • •
DOE • • • • • • •
NASA • • • • • • •
NIH • • • • • • •
NSF • • • • • • •
DOT • • • • • • •
EPA • • • • • •
ED • • • • • • •
USDA • • • • • • •
DOC • • • • • • •
DHS
HSARPA • • • • • •
SBIR PHASE I SOLICITATION SCHEDULE
Agency Month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
USDA DoC-NIST
DoC-NOAA
DoD
DoEd-IES
DoEd-NIDRR
DoE
DHHS-NIH/CDC
Contracts
DHHS NIH/CDC/
FDA Grants
DHS/HSARPA
DOT
EPA
NASA
NSF
AGENCY RELEASE DATE CLOSING DATE
Dept of Agriculture ~Jun 20, 2013 Sep 26, 2013 Dept of Commerce:NIST Feb 19, 2014 May 2, 2014
NOAA Nov 13, 2013 Jan 29, 2014
DoD: FY 14.1 Nov 20, 2013 Jan 22, 2014 FY 14.2 Apr 23, 2014 Jun 25, 2014 FY 14.3 Aug 21, 2014 Oct 22, 2014
Dept of Ed: IES Feb 4, 2014 Mar 24, 2014
NIDRR Dec 16, 2013 Feb 14, 2014
Dept of Energy Aug 11, 2014 Oct 14, 2014 Nov 24, 2014 Feb 3, 2015 Letter of Intent (Required)
DHHS (NIH): Contracts Aug 14, 2013 Dec 3, 2013
Grants ~Jan 15, 2014 Apr 5, 2014 Aug 5, 2014 Dec 5, 2014
DHS/HSARPA: Regular Dec 3, 2013 Jan 22, 2014 Apr 1, 2014 May 21, 2014
Nuke Dec 3, 2013 Jan 22, 2014
Dept. of Transportation Jul 25, 2013 Sep 23, 2013 Feb 4, 2014 Apr 4, 2014
Environ Protect Agency ~Mar 15, 2014 ~May 15, 2014 NASA Nov 11, 2013 Jan 29, 2014
NSF -9 Broad Topics Feb 26, 2014 Jun 10, 2014 -9 Broad Topics ~Sep 3, 2014 ~Dec 2, 2014
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Jimmy recognizes that “old” topics may be useful, too – “old” means their deadline for proposal submission has passed – Why useful?
• Possible indicator of future agency interests – DOE doesn’t have a solicitation/FOA on the street today, so we look at recent
ones to glean what the agency may want in the upcoming solicitation
• Names & contact info of people (TPOCs, topic authors, agency SBIR reps) with whom to talk about “success” of past topics
– Did they get good proposals? – Did they fund any of them? – Did any of them prove feasible? – Is the problem solved? – Are you no longer interested in this topic?
• If answer to any of these questions is “no,” then there might be a future opportunity for you
NSF will consider anything
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Other 2 references tell you what NSF doesn’t want
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Nothing related to NSF, even though NSF is a grant agency and is in grants.gov database
Nothing related to SBIR/STTR on 1st page of small business grants
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Finally some SBIR/STTR on 2nd page but only USDA, & contracts (vs. grants) aren’t included
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Most recent dates appear last on this list
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?
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Only sort possible is by “level of fit” (1 to 4 stars)
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Summary of Search Alternatives for “solar” on June 1, 2014
NSF Website Grants.gov Sbir.gov Zyn.com
# current NSF opportunities 1 0 0 1
# current opportunities 1 0 1 4
Archived opportunities ? 4 152 461
Includes contracts & grants? No No Yes Yes
Current DOD topics included? No No No Yes
Archived DOD topics included? No No Yes Yes
Depth of archives ? ~2011 ~2011 2000
Sortability Fair Good Fair Poor
Confidence Level* Poor Poor Fair Good
Overall score D- D C- B+
Data restricted to SBIR/STTR topics only * Confidence that it captures all reasonable SBIR/STTR opportunities in a search
Lessons Learned
1. Many different ways to search for relevant SBIR/STTR topics
2. None of them is perfect
3. Some are better than others a. “Better” is defined as comprehensive, accurate, up-to-date, depth of
archives, searchability
4. To ensure you miss no opportunities, you will need to conduct multiple searches using multiple websites
5. Expect inconsistencies and inaccuracies in your search results
6. Express your dissatisfaction with “official” sources that should be doing a better job