TEDCO Receives Grant from The U.S. Small Business Administration Awards
Agency awards 24 state, local grants to support small business innovation, research and development
COLUMBIA, Md. (September 26, 2018)—TEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, received a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to further enhance the organization’s success in stimulating economic growth throughout the state. TEDCO received $125,000 as one of 24 awards granted by the SBA under the Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program.
Along with funding, FAST helps to grow economic development by providing candidates with outreach, training, business assistance and mentoring. The support FAST provides is designed to help research and development focused small businesses compete in the SBIR/STTR Programs—which provide more than $2.5 billion in early stage seed capital each year with nearly 160,000 awards to small businesses each year.
Through the support of FAST, TEDCO will be working with the GovCon Incubator of OST Global Solutions, Inc. (OST), Eastern Shore Entrepreneur Center (ESEC), and the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to help small businesses win government Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) seed capital.
With the FAST grant the TEDCO team will be offering a new SBIR Proposal Lab developed with the goal of improving proposal quality, submissions, and win rates for SBIRs/STTRs Funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. The SBIR Proposal Lab objective is to double the success rate of the SBIR/STTR applications through a series of training workshops, mentoring, and consulting leading to the SBIR/STTR submission. The SBIR Proposal Lab will target the Department of Defense and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration SBIR solicitations to be issued this Fall. There is no specific technology area focus. Women and Socially Disadvantaged entrepreneurs submitting for an SBIR/STTR for the first time are especially encouraged to participate.
A cohort of approximately 30 companies will be selected to participate in the SBIR Proposal Lab. The workshops will guide the cohort from SBIR/STTR solicitation issuance through proposal submission. The SBIR Proposal Lab will also provide the cohort the skillset to win with other government and commercial proposals for the businesses’ long-term success.
“TEDCO is honored to have been selected to play a significant role in stimulating the entrepreneurial ecosystem,” said Ronald Kaese, Director of Federal Programs. “TEDCO is committed to providing opportunities for Maryland entrepreneurs and looks forward to working with the SBA to promote important programs that will continue to empower small businesses.”
The FAST award project and budget provides organizations with one year of funding to assist in implementing statewide programs to increase the number of proposals and awards and prepare awardees for success beyond the program. TEDCO will use the funding to conduct simultaneous workshops from both Rockville and Salisbury, MD, utilizing communications technology to connect the participants.
To be awarded, candidates had to be endorsed by their state governor as only one proposal was accepted from each state or territory. Proposals were evaluated by panels of reviewers from SBA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Special Operations Command, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Energy, the Missile Defense Agency and the National Institutes of Health.
Pre-Register to be a part of the SBIR Proposal Lab
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About FAST
In FY 2018, $3,000,000 total was appropriated as grants for entities to carry out targeted activities from September 30, 2018 through September 29, 2019. Entities from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa were eligible to receive funding to provide outreach, technical, and financial assistance in support of the SBIR/STTR programs. Additional information can be found at www.sbir.gov/about-fast.
About the SBA
The U.S. Small Business Administration makes the American dream of business ownership a reality. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.
