Hawaii Conference Highlights Federal Funding Opportunities for Small Businesses

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Photo: Emily Metcalf

HONOLULU, HAWAII — High Technology Development Corporation (HTDC) is hosting the 12th Biennial Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) & Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Conference on December 7th and 8th 2011 at the Hale Koa Hotel in Waikiki. The conference will focus on “Federal Funding Opportunities for Innovations Leading to Commercialization with the Department of Defense”. The conference aims to inform Hawaii’s small business community on how to apply for and win SBIR grant awards from the Federal Department of Defense, whose allocation for the award totals approximately $1.2 billion annually.

 

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The Federal SBIR program consists of eleven Federal agencies for a combined annual budget of $2.2 billion. The Department of Defense’s budget is approximately 54% of the entire Federal SBIR program budget. SBIR funding allows high-risk technologies to get initial funding and progress towards commercialization. Oceanit, a technology and engineering business leader in Hawaii, is a multiple SBIR award recipient.  Dr. Ken Cheung, Science and Technology Manager at Oceanit, acknowledges its benefit: “The SBIR program is a great way to get higher risk technologies off the ground while limiting the competition to the small business community.”  Yuka Nagashima, the Executive Director of HTDC, added, “SBIR awards bridge the gap at the startup research and development phase when angel investors and venture capitalists are not willing to invest in unproven technologies. With limited funding sources due to the economy and the moratorium on earmarks, the Federal SBIR program is relevant now more than ever for our innovation community.”

 

The State of Hawaii has set aside additional funding that can be awarded to SBIR Phase I award recipients to assist them in winning larger awards from the feds that create jobs. “We appreciate the Hawaii SBIR matching grant program because it can pay for expenses not covered in the SBIR Phase I grants and increases our potential to win Phase II awards, and ultimately help drive the technologies to transition or commercialization,” said Cheung.

 

At this year’s SBIR & STTR Conference attendees will gain valuable insight into the Federal SBIR program and the Department of Defense SBIR award process. Attendees will be able to schedule one-on-one meetings with one of the seven Federal Department of Defense SBIR managers at the conference. Attendees will also be able to meet one-on-one with experts in the Federal commercialization process and intellectual property, as well as local business resource professionals. The Hawaii SBIR conference is smaller than other state-held conferences, and this allows the Federal managers and industry experts to set aside time to meet directly with attendees and really personalize the conference.

 

To learn more about the 2011 SBIR & STTR Conference please visit: https://www.htdc.org/sbir-conference-2011/

 

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  1. […] Hawaii Conference Highlights Federal Funding Opportunities for Small Businesses Posted on November 19, 2011 by admin Tweet Hawaii Conference Highlights Federal Funding Opportunities for Small Businesses HONOLULU, HAWAII — High Technology Development Corporation (HTDC) is hosting the 12 th Biennial Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) & Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Conference on December 7 th and 8 th 2011 at the Hale Koa … Read more on Hawaii Reporter […]

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