Grants for Small Business:

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Fast Bucks for Entrepreneurs or Welfare Deals for Ph.D.s?

By Larry Wood

     The University of California, Davis Graduate School of Management is a gold mine for Sacramento. A seminar, held this fall at the school on how to prepare winning proposals for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants, was a fist-sized nugget.            
     The seminar, packed with eager entrepreneurs and as many UC Davis students and professors, was the work of Robert Berger, principal consultant at Berger & Associates (www.berger-associates.com), an SBIR/STTR consulting firm with offices on both coasts. From 1995 to 2003, Berger was one of 10 SBIR program managers and one of only five STTR program managers.            
     The session also was packed with insight, strategy and details about what — and what not — to do to increase odds of winning an SBIR grant. Comments were heard and overheard addressing whether the grants are “easy money for entrepreneurs” or “welfare programs for Ph.D.s,” contrasting perspectives on what is a very effective capital-generating program for small businesses.

A Push From Congress
     No one likes to be told how to spend their money, including federal agencies. Since 1993, however, Congress has allocated funds (more than $2 billion in 2004, or 2.5 percent of some federal agency budgets) to SBIR grants and 3 percent of participating agency budgets to grants.            
     With SBIR, small businesses compete for Phase I research grants, based on topics posted by participating agencies. These topics seek approaches to solutions, not solutions themselves; in essence, applied research. SBIR grants are as much as $100,000 and last up to six months.            
Continued...

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