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Realizing that typical small businesses are at a financial disadvantage for R&D,
the federal government has mandated that each of the research funding agencies
(NIH, DoD, NSF, etc…) set aside a substantial portion of their budgets for the
purpose of encouraging R&D activities. The grant mechanisms used to for this
purpose are called SBIR (Small Businesses in Research)
grants. An SBIR grant is comprised of three distinct Phases, I) Proof of Concept, II) Product Development, and III) Marketing/Sales. A Phase I SBIR grant is typically valued at $100k and is intended to supply financing for a duration of 6 months. The purpose of this phase is to the provide seed capital necessary to determine if an idea is feasible and to construct a prototype. The Phase II SBIR grant is valued at $750k and has a length of duration of 2 years. The purpose of this phase is to build upon the success of the prototype and begin development of the device as a commercial product line. Phase III is a non-funded phase; it is the responsibility of the small business to capitalize the marketing and sales of the newly created product. Unlike most government research grants, SBIR grants do not require the primary investigator hold a Ph.D. A small business with a talented technical staff could conceivably obtain SBIR funding for multiple and independent product investigations. If you would like more information about the SBIR program you can check it out at the SBA's website ( http://www.sba.gov/SBIR/indexsbir-sttr.html ) or contact Infinea directly at info@infineaweb.com |