Happening Tuesday April 4, 2017

4:00 – 5:30 p.m.

West Wing, Haslam College of Business, UTK

Register here.

Have you ever thought about commercializing your research?

The University of Tennessee Research Foundation (UTRF) supports researchers by protecting the intellectual property of promising technologies and making them available for corporation and startups to license. One avenue available to researchers is to participate in an entrepreneurial startup that develops the technology into products and services that benefit society.

But where does the money come from to do this development?

Did you know the Federal Government supports technology commercialization?

Federal research agencies like NSF, DoD, DOE and NIH together set aside over $2.5 billion annually for Small Business Innovation Research grants (SBIR’s). SBIR’s are available to small businesses to prove feasibility, develop prototypes and commercialize technologies. The program is a peer reviewed, competitive grant program that can provide hundreds of thousands of dollars to a startup to help prepare the technology for market entry. In addition, most agencies provide programs for grantees to develop their business models in parallel with their development to ensure they are ready to compete in their chosen marketplace.

Some startups have raised several million dollars through the SBIR program.

Come learn about how you can participate in the SBIR Grant Program.

This program will provide a brief overview of the SBIR program, some incentives provided by the State of Tennessee and best of all, you will hear from a panel of 3 local SBIR veterans, who together have raised several million dollars of R&D funding for their companies.

The informational session will cover:

  • Where to find information about the SBIR Program
  • Strategies for successfully competing, and winning SBIR funding awards
  • Connections to successful award winners
  • The good, the bad and the ugly of SBIR’s as a funding strategy