23 Jan $800,000 in State Matching Grants Advance 9 Innovative Small Businesses
MADISON – Nine small businesses in Wisconsin will receive up to $800,000 to commercialize their innovations, thanks to the SBIR Advance program’s latest round of funding.
The state matching grant program provides assistance to companies in the process of completing a project in the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. This is the 24th round of SBIR Advance funding since the collaboration by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and the Center for Technology Commercialization (CTC) began in 2014.
Over the past decade 183 awards totaling over $15.5 million have been awarded. Those businesses reported obtaining $80 million in follow on funding since receiving the SBIR Advance matching grants.
“We funded four Phase I teams and five Phase II teams for the most recent round of SBIR Advance grants,” said Rob Baranowski, SBIR Advance Program Manager. “We have a diverse group of companies that have received funding from the NIH, the NSF, the Army, and the Department of Energy. We have made a concerted effort to increase the number of contracts awarded to our state, and we are always pleased to see our efforts pay off with more of these contracts being awarded to Wisconsin small businesses.”
Baranowski continued, “We will once again be using the Innovation Within training group for our Phase I Lean Startup class. Innovation Within is involved in running some of the national I-Corps programs, and we are looking forward to the training they will provide to our Phase I teams.”
The U.S. government created SBIR/STTR programs to stimulate domestic high-tech innovation, budgeting over $4 billion in federal research funding annually. Because those funds cannot be used for commercialization activities, the SBIR Advance program fills the gap. Funds can be used to pursue market research, customer validation, intellectual property work or other areas that speed commercialization.