UW-Extension’s Center for
Technology Commercialization is offering a match grant of up to $75,000 to
provide additional assistance to companies in the process of completing a Small
Business Innovation Research project. This the fourth round of funding awarded
to the program by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.
Applicants are required to
fill out a brief online form found at www.wisconsinsbir.org/content/sbir-advance-pre-submission-form
by Aug. 17. The full application deadline is Aug. 27. Companies chosen for
funding will be notified by Sept. 14.
To be eligible, companies
must have an SBIR project in either Phase I or Phase II of funding. A company
becomes ineligible once they have completed Phase II of any SBIR project. All
companies must be located in Wisconsin to be considered for the grant. Funds
can be used for business and market development, customer validation, intellectual
property work or other areas the company needs to speed commercialization of
their product.
Those who are in their first
phase of SBIR funding must complete a Lean StartUp class administered by the
CTC. The class will teach companies how to incorporate their technology into a
validated business model and define the best possible target market. CTC also
will offer assistance to companies in Phase II but does not require them to
enroll in the class.
For details on the SBIR
Advance, visit www.wisconsinsbir.org
or contact Todd Strother, program manager, at todd.strother@uwex.edu.
SBIR Advance is part of a
Start-Seed-Scale (S3) initiative WEDC is pursuing with the help of the UW
System and other business leaders throughout the state to remove barriers to
high-tech commercialization. Under the S3 umbrella, WEDC and its economic development
partners are implementing financial and operational assistance programs
designed specifically to address Wisconsin’s business startup and seed-funding
challenges. One such initiative — also a collaborative effort between WEDC and
the UW System — is the Ideadvance Seed Fund also managed by UW-Extension’s CTC.
Selected SBIR Advance participants undergo Ideadvance Lean Startup training
that is modified to assist with their SBIR Phase II applications.
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