SBA announces 44 FAST awardees

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently announced 44 FAST awards, including 12 new awards,  totaling over $5.4 million, with each up to $125,000 for specialized training, mentoring, and technical assistance for research and development. The goal of the Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program is to strengthen the competitiveness of small businesses and startups to improve Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program outcomes.

This year’s $5.4 million is an increase of nearly $1.5 million over the prior fiscal year and an increase of nearly $3.5 million since 2010. SSTI's Innovation Advocacy Council has made it a priority over the past few years to encourage Congress to increase funding for FAST. During FY 2021 and 2022, FAST received $10 million in appropriations — following just $3 million in each of the preceding three fiscal years — and Congress has proposed greater increases for FY 2023 ($10 million in the Senate, and $8 million in the House). To learn more about the Innovation Advocacy Council and SSTI's work on the Hill, contact Jason Rittenberg (rittenberg@ssti.org).

SBA reports that $4 million in 2021 FAST grant awards helped small businesses generate over $88 million in combined SBIR and STTR awards. FAST awards are made for an initial 12-month period but have the option to be extended four times (previously two) for up to 12 months each.

In addition to the 12 new awardees, 32 awardees from 2021 were granted funding for their second or third years. SSTI is happy to note that 22 of the 44 FAST awardees, including four of the new first year awardees, are members of SSTI, highlighted below:

SSTI coverage of last year’s (2021) FAST awardees can be found here.