SSTI Releases USIP Study of State SBIR Programs

A new report by SSTI finds that 48 states have some structured SBIR promotion or assistance effort underway. States spent $8 million in FY 1998 to promote involvement and encourage success in the federal SBIR program. These are among the findings reported in State and Federal Perspectives on the SBIR Program.

The report has three primary purposes: it provides an overview of state services offered; it reports on state and federal program managers views on key issues facing the SBIR program; and, it suggests options for further action to advance state-federal cooperation on SBIR.

The report also includes: a selected bibliography, a list of state SBIR service providers, and a distribution of Phase I awards and proposals by agency and state for FY 93-97.

The report was prepared for United States Innovation Partnership's (USIP) SBIR Task Force, co-chaired by Rich Bendis of the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation and Dan Hill of the Small Business Administration. USIP was created in 1997 to establish a new working relationship between the states and federal government designed to promote the development of a national innovation system. SBIR is one of the areas USIP identified as ripe for enhanced state-federal cooperation.

The report was funded by the Department of Defense, the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Science Foundation.

Key findings from the report, include:

• State and federal program managers agree that the SBIR program should remain a competitive merit-based award program
• Federal program managers viewed program outreach and commercialization as the most fruitful areas of state-federal cooperation; most state activity is focused on program outreach, not commercialization
• State managers felt more steps should be taken to address multiple award winners who were not commercializing resulting technologies
• State managers identified timely inform-ation, increased financial resources, and in-depth training as their three greatest needs

Among the options for further action are: expanding the federal program's outreach activities; strengthening state assistance and outreach efforts; communication among state SBIR service providers should increase; communication between state and federal SBIR program managers should increase; state and federal SBIR program managers should consider provisions to be included in the reauthorization of the program; and further research on the SBIR program should be undertaken.

With its examination of state and federal views on issues facing the SBIR program, experienced policymakers will find the report of interest. Those considering starting an SBIR assistance program will find the typology of state programs particularly helpful.

To prepare the report, SSTI interviewed all ten federal agencies participating in the federal SBIR program and 51 state-level officials that manage state SBIR programs in 46 states. Federal program managers were asked a series of 26 open-ended questions while state officials were asked 24 open-ended questions. The interviews averaged one hour in length.

The 100-page report is available for $20 by contacting SSTI at 614/901-1690.