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NIH SBIR/STTR Awards in North Carolina 2015-19
Recently published NIH SBIR/STTR award data by SSTI provided the opportunity for us to analyze several metrics for North Carolina over the 5-year period from 2015 to 2019. Included are interesting comparisons between SBIR and STTR. It is important to keep in mind that the STTR program is only approximately 10% ($114M) of the size of the SBIR program ($1B) at NIH. Also, award data available for STTRs is based on the location of the awarded small business and does not denote the location of the non-profit research institution.
North Carolina ranks well nationally. Only California and Massachusetts consistently rank higher than North Carolina.
North Carolina Rank Nationally in NIH SBIR/STTR Funding
North Carolina saw it highest number of SBIR proposal submissions to NIH in 2019 at 267 proposals, a 27% increase compared to 5 years prior, while STTR submissions increased 72% in the same period. This increased level of submissions is very important as it represents more opportunities to receive funding. The increase, particularly of STTR submissions, represents both an appetite for existing small businesses to partner with non-for-profits, like universities, as well as increased small business spin-out activities at universities.
NIH phase1 award rates in NC have been tracking higher over the five-year period. They have also been tracking higher nationally as well. In general, NCs award rates are in line with national averages.
Phase 2 award rates on the other hand, show an interesting divergence between SBIR and STTR. SBIR Phase 2 award rates are around 40% while STTR award rates average about 60% in NC.
In 2019, NC small businesses received $24.3M in SBIR funding from NIH. This equates to approximately 2.4% of the total that NIH funded nationally. STTR awards totaled $6.5M, or almost 6% of the total funded nationally. It is important to note that the total NIH SBIR and STTR budget has increased significantly over the 2015-2019 period as well.
NIH SBIR/STTR - September Submission
The next HHS/NIH SBIR/STTR application deadline is less than three months away on
September 8, 2020 at 5 pm local time.
(Note that since September 5th falls on a weekend, and Monday, September 7th is a federal holiday, the deadline has been pushed back until Tuesday, September 8th). The standard due dates fall on
September 5, January 5, and April 5.
Review these helpful tips and reminders to ensure timely and error free application submission.
Make sure you're registered!
The 5-step registration process may take 6 - 8 weeks, so it is important to start now. All registrations must be completed prior to the application being submitted. Learn more about the
five required registrations
, and review the Electronic Submission presentation located on the NIH SBIR/STTR
Resources page
.
Find the SBIR/STTR solicitations
. The SBIR & STTR Omnibus solicitations are intended to support small business investigator-initiated research ideas across a broad spectrum of topic areas. The targeted SBIR/STTR solicitations are more focused around specific research areas, and the Direct Phase II solicitations allow small businesses to bypass applying for a Phase I award if they already have completed the Phase I stage research. We expect NIH to release its next Omnibus solicitation this month. The last (now expired) omnibus is available at:
https://sbir.nih.gov/funding#omni-sbir
Be sure to use the
Annotated SF424 SBIR/STTR Form Set
in conjunction with the
SF424 R&R SBIR/STTR Application Guide
(FORMS-C) to guide you step-by-step through the application process. Applicants also find the
Most Common eRA Commons Errors
and the
SBIR Sample Applications from NIAID
very helpful. All resources can be found on the
Resources page.
Remember
- we encourage all applicants to speak with the appropriate NIH Institute or Center (IC) program
SBIR/STTR program manager
before submitting an application. If you are wondering who to contact for specific questions, please email the NIH SBIR/STTR program at
[email protected]
.
SBIR/STTR Solicitation Dates
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Keeping Up-to-date with the Equity Funding Landscape in North Carolina
In our last newsletter we discussed the impact of uncertainty on the early-stage equity investing landscape. Since that time, we have continued to explore the current realities that early-stage innovation driven small businesses face when raising capital in these uncertain times.
On April 22nd Mike Carnes of the SBTDC's technology commercialization team hosted a webinar featuring two regional angel group thought leaders, Eva Doss (The Launch Place) and Mark Friedman (RTP Capital). The key lessons learned include:
- COVID19 and the resulting level of uncertainty has caused most investors to enter a "wait and see" mode. Few will be making new investments until there is more clarity on the status of the economy and impact of the virus.
- There is also opportunity. The exception to the "wait and see" mindset is companies that have solutions that directly solve problems related to COVID19 and the world that it has created. Angels and VCs are actively seeking these types of opportunities.
- Follow-on financing for current portfolio companies is a major concern and investors have spent much of their energy helping their own portfolio companies navigate the current landscape. In many cases they are also reserving capital for these companies.
- Adding to uncertainty are expected changes in valuations. Investors expect early-stage company valuations to pull back from their recent highs, but there is still not enough data from new financings to get clarification around this point.
- Just because investment activity may slow doesn't mean entrepreneurs should not be actively engaging in investor dialogue. In fact, this could be a great time to begin building relationships so that you will be top of mind when investment activity picks back up.
Survey result reveal the impact of COVID19 on the angel funding community
The SBTDC's Tech Team launched a survey of the NC angel investment community to gain further insight on the impact of COVID19 and economic uncertainty around early-stage investing. The survey solicited feedback from both individual angel investors and angel groups. We received feedback from 22 active angel groups in the state and 56 individual angel investors. Some of the preliminary results include:
- The majority of angel groups, and about half of the individual investors, expect a change in their investing activity for a minimum of the next 6-12 months, if not longer. Whereas almost twice as many individuals (32%) as groups (18%) don't expect a change.
- Only 23% of individuals plan to be actively involved in investing. 48% of individual investors indicated they plan to take a more conservative approach, 15% are most likely holding back for a while, and 13% need to take a break from new investing all together.
- Angel groups had a slightly more optimistic view with 41% of groups planning to be actively involved in investing. 36% expect to take a more conservative approach, 22% will most likely be holding back for a while, none plan to take a break from investing all together.
- Compared to before COVID19, 30% of individual investors and 50% of groups expect to invest less capital in new companies. The majority of groups and individuals expect to invest the same or more capital in follow-on funding opportunities for current portfolio companies. This suggests a preference for follow-on investing in portfolio companies.
These efforts are aimed at keeping NC small business and other entrepreneurial stakeholders informed about the impact of COVID19 on investing. We will continue to track the impact over time and are always happy to speak to clients one-on-one about how these changes affect their own funding strategies.
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Co-Existing with COVID-19 Creates Space for New and Old Tech
Since the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe, there have been many opportunities for innovators on issues relating to fighting the virus including development of vaccines, diagnosticss, etc. However, now that we start to imagine living with COVID-19 in a post-pandemic situation, there will be numerous problems and markets, both new and old, needing solutions and products.
There are some obvious needs for post-pandemic societies and economies, such as those involving sanitation and the "Low Touch Economy". Many of these solutions and products exist today, but they will receive renewed attention in an environment with COVID-19 and other highly-virulent pathogens. For instance, anything related to telemedicine has a chance to see tremendous growth, as does UV sanitizing devices and robotic patient care. The development of multi-strain anti-viral medications/vaccines and tools for rapid vaccine deployment and inoculation are logical growth areas.
Until now, somewhat stalled sectors that could see increased attention may be autonomous vehicles for touchless food/product delivery. Any product to help reduce the "final mile" costs could be in demand. An ironic twist to economic recovery from COVID-19 may actually result in an increase of development and utilization of robotics in manufacturing. Given the virus hit many "hands on" industries hard, business owners may move to automate operations to prepare for another similar disruption to business. This automation situation has another cause linked to COVID-19, which is the poor economy. According to Verisk, "88% of jobs that individuals lost due to automation occurred within 12 months of NBER dated recessions", indicating that the move to automation may happen in the first few months of economic recovery.
While not exciting from an innovation standpoint, taking a fresh look at existing products or existing technology may prove to be fruitful in a post-pandemic society. For instance, the banking industry has a long history of making human interaction safer from theft and crime. These same technologies may find quick deployment in services that need human interaction without humans sharing the same space. In fact, some industries, such as transportation, may redeploy existing tech in new ways, leading to opportunities to create more specialized solutions from existing products. Finally, there are many great inventions left not commercialized simply because they did not have a market 20 years ago or even six months ago. It may be time for those inventions to shine.
As societies go through a rebirth of sorts, consider reinventing and repurposing. While using a coffee can for a cookie jar is a great thought, in this context, repurposing or reinventing may be needed to solve bigger issues. Perhaps, someone made some cash with an idea, and it hit a sales wall, and, yes, maybe it is some plain old new ideas that come to life. Regardless, savvy business people and open-minded innovators may find great opportunity as we move to co-exist with COVID-19 and other pathogens in a more controlled way.
Sources cited:
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Social Media Tips & Tricks
Plan out a day or two a month to focus on social media. Schedule an hour or two as a recurring time to draft up content, and use a scheduling tool to have it posted out there for you. You can use a tool like Typorama on your phone to generate pictures and stick quotes on top of them, or advertise a special coming up. From there you can use a tool like
Hootsuite
or Zoho Social to schedule them 30-60 days in advance. It is recommended to mark out which holidays and specials you would like to have planned and put social posts out around them as well.
With these tools, you can get into the flow of it and schedule 30 days in advance in a few hours. From there make sure you review your past 30 days of activity, see what worked, tweak them slightly and publish them again.
Hit as many social channels as possible, and always try to include a variety of hashtags in them. You never know where other customers are hiding. After that schedule 5-10 minutes a day to engage with your fans and comments. Don't get sucked in but make it a plan to comment and like and encourage others on social while you are drinking that morning coffee or in-between meetings. You will slowly grow your followers, and build a sense of community around your products and brand.
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MORE SBTDC TARGETED SERVICES
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SELLING TO THE GOVERNMENT
The North Carolina Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) educates business associates on how to obtain contracts by providing comprehensive assistance in selling products and services to local, state and federal government agencies.
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INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
The SBTDC's International Business Development Specialists assists small and mid-sized businesses with export planning and exporting.
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The Team
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The Technology Commercialization Services team provides one-on-one business counseling and advice
to: small business owners, university researchers, and entrepreneurs looking to advance their innovations to the marketplace.
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Director, Technology Development
and Commercialization
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SBIR/STTR Specialist & Newsletter Editor
Statewide
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Technology Commercialization Counselor
Eastern NC
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Technology Commercialization Counselor
North Central NC
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Technology Commercialization Counselor
Western NC
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