North Carolina Tops $93M in SBIR/STTR Awards in 2020

  NC SBIR/STTR Trend Analysis: 2020 vs. 2010

  Recording Available: Introductory SBIR/STTR Presentation

  Webinar - NSF SBIR/STTR Program - April 22

  NASA Patent Licensing for Startups

  Webinar - Raising Capital in Uncertain Times - April 8

  SBIR/STTR Solicitation Dates

  New Team Member - Rachel Burton

  Winning in the SBIR Program Without Winning an Award

 


North Carolina Tops $93M in SBIR/STTR Awards in 2020

2020 SBIR/STTR award data at a national level was recently released. North Carolina's small businesses received over $93M of the $3.7B awarded nationally. Overall, NC ranked 10th in total award dollars behind CA, MA, VA, MD, NY, TX, PA, CO and OH. Of the $93M total, NIH accounted for $56M. NC's national ranking for NIH awards is #3 behind only CA and MA. 
 
An analysis of SBIR/STTR awards in NC for 2020 compared to a decade earlier is discussed in the article below. 



NC SBIR/STTR Trend Analysis: 2020 vs. 2010

A review and analysis of SBIR and STTR awards made to North Carolina small businesses comparing 2020 data with that from 2010 demonstrates some interesting trends. 
 
Looking globally at SBIR/STTR awards made to NC small businesses demonstrates a strong upward trend when comparing total award amounts and unique companies (awardees). The total SBIR/STTR dollars awarded increased 81% to over $93M in 2020. It is important to recognize that in this same period, the total SBIR/STTR funding available from the federal agencies increased from $2.2B in 2010 to $3.7B in 2020, a 68% increase. 


2020
2010
Change
Total Award Amount ($)$93,268,137$51,654,84681%
Unique Companies1197559%

This represents the highest annual amount that NC companies have ever been awarded. The number of unique companies that received awards increased by 59% to 119. Many of these unique companies received multiple awards 

SBIR Awards
2020
2010
Change 
Total Funding in NC$78,950,311$45,429,96574%
Phase I Awards9673
32%
Phase II Awards7132122%

SBIR specific award data (STTR not included) demonstrated a 74% increase in SBIR award dollars. Of this, Phase I dollars increased by 32% and Phase II dollars increased by 122%. 

STTR Awards
2020
2010
Change
Total STTR Funding$14,317,826$6,224,881130%
Phase I Awards3111182%
Phase II Awards10667%

STTR specific award data (SBIR not included) demonstrated a 130% increase in STTR award dollars. Of this, Phase I dollars increased by 182% and Phase II dollars increased by 67%. This suggests that NC small businesses are more effectively partnering with universities and/or university spin-outs are taking more advantage of STTR funding. Note that STTR requires that a small business partner with a university. 


2020
2020
2010
2010
Agency
Amount% by AgencyAmount% by Agency
NIH$55,947,14960.0%$30,380,98758.8%
DoD$22,906,80124.6%$11,976,86023.2%
NSF$8,504,1049.1%$3,624,9727.0%
DoE$2,149,420
2.3%
$2,208,5894.0%
DHS$1,147,6331.2%$1,074,4382.1%
DoEd$874,8040.9%$274,9870.5%
USDA$849,8590.9%$479,9660.9%
Commerce$400,0000.4%$400,0000.8%
NASA$249,9980.3%$784,0551.5%
DoT$138,3690.1%--0.0%
EPA$100,0000.1%$449,992 0.9% 

Finally, an analysis of the agencies that funded these Phase I and Phase II SBIR/STTR awards to NC businesses shows significant similarities between 2020 and 2010. The top three agencies in both years were NIH, DoD and NSF. Together, these three agencies represented 94% of awards in 2020 an 89% of awards in 2010. Similarly, these three agencies represent a total of 85% of all SBIR/STTR awards on a national basis. 



Recording Available: Introductory SBIR/STTR Presentation

We recently hosted a 60-minute webcast presentation about the SBIR/STTR program with a strong turnout of almost 200.

Topics included:
  • Funding levels and phased process 
  • Participating agencies 
  • How to identify agency interests (solicitations) 
  • Differences between SBIR/STTR
  • Important content to include in a proposal 
  • Key points to increase competitiveness 
  • Resources to assist you
A recording of the session is available for viewing at: 




Webinar - NSF SBIR/STTR Program - April 22



Learn how the National Science Foundation (NSF) participates in the highly competitive SBIR/STTR program and how you can benefit. Featuring Program Manager Dr. Murali Nair. 

Topics include:
  • Scientific areas of interest at NSF
  • Proposal requirements and strategies 
  • Required pitch submission
  • Common pitfalls
  • How NSF is different than other agencies 
Date / Time: April 22, 1 PM ET





NASA Patent Licensing for Startups



NASA is licensing over 400 patents to businesses, and endeavoring to see startups created through licensing, especially to more experienced people such as mid to late career entrepreneurs. The licensing opportunities NASA has available are at  https://technology.nasa.gov/startup. The patented technologies are at https://technology.nasa.gov/patents and software at https://software.nasa.gov/

For additional information, please contact or engage with the Tech team.

Jesse C. Midgett 
NASA Langley Research Center
Technology Transfer Specialist

Webinar - Raising Capital in Uncertain Times - April 8



The past year has been a roller-coaster for companies raising capital. A year ago when the pandemic first broke out in the United States, investors put on the breaks across the board. New investments came to a grinding halt. 

As the year continued, venture capital investing stormed back to finish a record-breaking year of investing in late-stage deals. But, where does that leave early stage companies and what are the implications on angel investing? 

Join us for our April 8th webinar:

FREE REGISTRATION HERE: 

This webinar is a 12-month follow-up to our April 2020 session "Raising Capital in Uncertain Times." We will review the impact of COVID-19 on early-stage funding and discuss the current funding landscape. Entrepreneurs seeking equity capital will learn about challenges and opportunities in the current environment and will be given the chance to ask questions of the investor participants. 

Panelists: 
  • Eva Doss, President & CEO, The Launch Place 
  • Mark Friedman, President, RTP Capital and Associates 
  • Mike Carnes, Equity Funding Specialist, NC SBTDC  
     

New Team Member - Rachel Burton



Rachel Burton joins us in a Technology Commercialization Counselor position, which is newly created, at UNC-CH. Rachel Burton brings 15 years of experience building start-up companies and commercializing technologies in the agriculture and energy sectors in addition to five years focused on product innovation and team management at a top-tier global biotechnology firm. Burton's undergraduate degree is from UNC-CH, combined with professional education in agriculture and automotive-diesel technology. Rachel was a co-founder and owner of Piedmont Biofuels Industrial out of Pittsboro, North Carolina. At Piedmont, she authored, won, and administered over 10 state and federal grants, including serving as a principal investigator (PI) for multiple Phase 1 and Phase 2 SBIR awards. Previously, Burton's biotechnology advancement in renewable fuels was awarded the i2i innovation award at South by Southwest (SXSW) and was nominated for the Presidential EPA Green Chemistry Award. 



Winning in the SBIR Program Without Winning an Award

Regardless of the quality of an innovation, there are many instances where the SBIR program is simply not a fit. For instance, there are times when an innovation is beyond the proof-of-concept phase, and there are times that the reviewers will not consider your innovation as a final product. Instead, the agency will consider the innovation to be a component to a larger technology product in which the particular agencies find more fundable. Of course, the dreaded "lack of technical risk" always looms heavily over SBIR proposals and can be the reason that an agency will not fund an otherwise solid product. 

Fortunately, there are other ways to benefit and possibly develop capital through the SBIR program and some of its agencies. The website www.SBIR.gov provides access to a searchable database of funded solicitations along with information about the awardee and an abstract of the innovation. This is beneficial in a variety of ways. Initially, it provides valuable insight into what the agencies are interested, which can be useful in guiding the innovator to develop an SBIR strategy or illuminate the fact that the SBIR program is not a good fit. Yet, there is more to this story. A company funded with an SBIR Phase I has some distinct advantages. Foremost, the awarded company has a concept that an agency found interesting along with a team to develop it. Additionally, the awardee has money with a path to a Phase II award, which may result in a larger bucket of funding. This is the point where you shift from actively seeking an SBIR award to benefiting from the program by either a partner or a contractor for an SBIR awardee. From an icebreaker perspective, there could be additional value in researching the innovation to ascertain if it ever made it to market. This information could be an interesting lead-in to a discussion with the awardee and help you understand what they may need from you. 

The logic is straightforward. If you are past proof-of-concept or lack technical risk, you may have a component that you can develop quickly and that the awardee needs to commercialize their product/system. Also, you may have IP that the awardee can license, thereby accelerating the development process. Similarly, you may have the expertise to assist in the development of the basic research to assist the awardee in scale up, prototyping. Finally, through your own quest for angel investment, you may have contacts to support their plan for follow-on funding, which may be more attractive to angels, given the awardee has won, at least, a Phase I. The possibilities for compensation mechanisms are wide and varied, ranging from a consulting contract to some sort of equity stake in the awarded company, which is a discussion outside of the scope of this article. Your friendly neighborhood SBTDC Tech Counselor can assist with these relationships, as well. 

There is no shame in NOT being an SBIR awardee, and it does not make you any less of an innovator. While winning a Phase I is exciting, your job as a small business operator is to create value for the shareholder, and you can create that value by utilizing the SBIR program without ever submitting a proposal. While developing partnerships and B2B relationships is not easy, consider the time it takes to create a winning proposal (the SBA suggests starting 10 weeks out). Rather, if you spent 10 weeks diligently building a network of awardees, you may find the time to be more fruitful. In an interesting twist, you may indeed find the missing piece to your future SBIR proposal.
MORE SBTDC TARGETED SERVICES

SELLING TO THE GOVERNMENT
The SBTDC's Government Contracting Assistance Program educates business associates on how to obtain contracts by providing comprehensive assistance in selling products and services to local, state and federal government agencies.
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
The SBTDC's International Business Development Specialists assists small and mid-sized businesses with export planning and exporting.


The Team
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.


Director, Technology Development 
and Commercialization 
SBIR/STTR Specialist & Newsletter Editor 
Statewide 
Technology Commercialization Counselor
Eastern NC
Technology Commercialization Counselor
North Central NC
Technology Commercialization Counselor
Western NC



SBTDC
Technology Commercialization Program

5 West Hargett St., Suite 600 Raleigh, NC 27601
919.962.8297 
www.sbtdc.org/tech/sbirsttr
sbir@sbtdc.org