Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB) is proud to announce a partnership with Hawaii Technology Development Corporation (HTDC) in its efforts to spread the word throughout the State of Hawaii about two of the US Small Business Administration’s (SBA) ‘America’s Seed Fund’ research grant programs, the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR). The SBA will be conducting a National SBIR/STTR Week July 19-23 to introduce entrepreneurs to the needs and requirements of each of the U.S. government’s agencies that have grant money for research.

“The 2021 National SBIR Week is a virtual event connecting entrepreneurs and researchers working on advanced technologies to the SBIR/STTR programs and to the country’s largest source of early-stage funding,” said Frank De Rego, Jr., Program Director, MEDB Business Projects. “It will provide attendees with an opportunity to hear directly from the participating federal agency program managers that administer over 7,000 new awards annually and to meet virtually one-on-one with program decision makers. Together the programs provide over $4 billion in funding to small businesses each year in a wide variety of technology areas.”

This is a significant opportunity for innovators, entrepreneurs, researchers, or small technology firms who are thinking of starting a business with an exciting technology idea or to commercialize an idea. Receiving an SBIR/STTR grant means a company has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy subject-matter experts and the panels of expert reviewers they employ.  

De Rego noted, “In addition, HTDC in partnership with MEDB will be hosting a series of preparation seminars. The key to getting started for an SBIR/STTR grant is meeting with the individual program managers and learning the specific target technologies and the unique requirements for future research.”

There is a sign up for the 2021 National SBIR Week to reserve times for one-on-one meetings with program managers at the SBIR/STTR agencies such as NASA,  USDA, Air Force, Navy, NFS, and more. The free webinars are jointly sponsored by MEDB, UH Office of Innovation and Commercialization (OIC), the HTDC Innovate Hawaii program, and Denise McKenzie of OIC. Register for workshops at https://bit.ly/3j3GLWs.

“For more details on the workshops and seminars in the OIC, HTDC Innovate Hawaii SBIR and MEDB Prep series visit https://www.medb.org.”