By : Sarah Reinecke
Source : http://www.argusleader.com
Category : Small Business Grant
There’s a new resource that aims to help South Dakota’s small businesses secure federal money for research and development.
The Governor’s Office of Economic Development received a $55,000 grant from the Small Business Administration to expand assistance available through the Small Business Innovation Research Center, which works with 11 federal agencies and has access to $2.5 billion in federal grants.
Thanks to the grant, the SBIR program has hired three graduate students to assist companies in researching and writing proposals for the grants, state program director Gary Archamboult said.
He hopes the extra help will allow the program to submit 50 proposals next year, up from 35 this year. Archamboult said South Dakota companies were awarded about $4 million this year under the SBIR program, up from about $2 million last year.
“We’re trying to increase our bandwidth so we can assist more companies,” he said. “We’re hoping to increase competitiveness of the proposals by having students be able to do research on market opportunity, help define who the competition is, and just build strength for the proposals.”
Archamboult said the graduate assistants are all MBA students at the University of South Dakota who will work up to 20 hours a week.
He said the grants allow for-profit small businesses with fewer than 500 employees the opportunity to take an idea from concept to prototype, to the point where the company can start attracting investors.
“We’re trying to grow the innovation and commercialization capabilities of South Dakota companies,” he said. “We’re kind of building momentum,” he said.
Through the program, small businesses can apply for grants of up to $150,000 to study the feasibility of a new business technology, product or process. If the idea is feasible, the company can apply for grants of up to $1 million to build a prototype and take the new product to market. The SBIR program grants are geared toward projects that design solutions for specific federal government needs, Archamboult said.
The money for graduate assistants will help small businesses navigate through the federal application process and develop competitive proposals, said Pat Costello, commissioner for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.
“Participating in the federal Small Business Innovative Research program can be hugely beneficial to a business,” he said. “The research and development grants, quite literally, provide entrepreneurs with risk-free dollars to develop and test innovative new products. These are highly competitive programs.”
Brookings Biomedical has received $200,000 in grants through SBIR programs, co-owner and co-founder Dr. David Francis said. The company received the first grant last year, and the second grant in July through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Francis used the money to look at vaccine development for pigs.
“We were able to pursue vaccine development,” he said. “It gave us the start-up money to begin work on these products.”
Brookings Biomedical also submitted a third application, and Francis expects to hear a response in six to nine months.
“The grants give stimulus money for small companies to be able to expand beyond where they are, so it is very useful to have this money,” he said. “It may eventually lead to some additional manufacturing in the state … that would have a substantial economic impact in the state.”
Source : http://www.argusleader.com/article/20111209/BUSINESS/312090015/Grant-could-help-small-businesses
Source : http://www.argusleader.com
Category : Small Business Grant
There’s a new resource that aims to help South Dakota’s small businesses secure federal money for research and development.
The Governor’s Office of Economic Development received a $55,000 grant from the Small Business Administration to expand assistance available through the Small Business Innovation Research Center, which works with 11 federal agencies and has access to $2.5 billion in federal grants.
Thanks to the grant, the SBIR program has hired three graduate students to assist companies in researching and writing proposals for the grants, state program director Gary Archamboult said.
He hopes the extra help will allow the program to submit 50 proposals next year, up from 35 this year. Archamboult said South Dakota companies were awarded about $4 million this year under the SBIR program, up from about $2 million last year.
“We’re trying to increase our bandwidth so we can assist more companies,” he said. “We’re hoping to increase competitiveness of the proposals by having students be able to do research on market opportunity, help define who the competition is, and just build strength for the proposals.”
Archamboult said the graduate assistants are all MBA students at the University of South Dakota who will work up to 20 hours a week.
He said the grants allow for-profit small businesses with fewer than 500 employees the opportunity to take an idea from concept to prototype, to the point where the company can start attracting investors.
“We’re trying to grow the innovation and commercialization capabilities of South Dakota companies,” he said. “We’re kind of building momentum,” he said.
Through the program, small businesses can apply for grants of up to $150,000 to study the feasibility of a new business technology, product or process. If the idea is feasible, the company can apply for grants of up to $1 million to build a prototype and take the new product to market. The SBIR program grants are geared toward projects that design solutions for specific federal government needs, Archamboult said.
The money for graduate assistants will help small businesses navigate through the federal application process and develop competitive proposals, said Pat Costello, commissioner for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.
“Participating in the federal Small Business Innovative Research program can be hugely beneficial to a business,” he said. “The research and development grants, quite literally, provide entrepreneurs with risk-free dollars to develop and test innovative new products. These are highly competitive programs.”
Brookings Biomedical has received $200,000 in grants through SBIR programs, co-owner and co-founder Dr. David Francis said. The company received the first grant last year, and the second grant in July through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Francis used the money to look at vaccine development for pigs.
“We were able to pursue vaccine development,” he said. “It gave us the start-up money to begin work on these products.”
Brookings Biomedical also submitted a third application, and Francis expects to hear a response in six to nine months.
“The grants give stimulus money for small companies to be able to expand beyond where they are, so it is very useful to have this money,” he said. “It may eventually lead to some additional manufacturing in the state … that would have a substantial economic impact in the state.”
Source : http://www.argusleader.com/article/20111209/BUSINESS/312090015/Grant-could-help-small-businesses
