What is an SBIR Grant?
When Thomas Edison famously stated, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration,” he might have been talking about software development. Or grant writing.
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program encourages small, high-tech businesses with inspired ideas to apply for federal grant funding for research and development purposes. With over $2 billion made available to small businesses each year, grant writing is a highly competitive process and there is no guarantee of success. A good grant application needs to prove that a research and development idea is not only feasible, but commercially viable as well. Azavea has used SBIR grant funding to develop our HunchLab and DecisionTree products. During the month of August, we prepared additional grant applications for some urban forestry products we hope to develop. In September, we were interviewed by the National Science Foundation regarding our pending grant application for raster processing enhancements.
Developing software products of this magnitude requires substantial risk for small businesses like Azavea. Federal grant funding helps mitigate this risk factor to a great degree and allows the necessary research and development hours to be devoted to bringing these applications to the national marketplace if feasibility can be proven. The SBIR Program is unique in its dedication to assisting small commercial businesses, since so many other federal grant programs are only available to nonprofits or government organizations.
If you are thinking about applying for federal funding for one of your inspired ideas, be prepared to apply some perspiration in the form of intense research and writing efforts. Eleven federal agencies participate in the SBIR program, including the
National Science Foundation,
Department of Defense,
Department of Agriculture and
Department of Education. Research their solicitation topics carefully and decide where your ideas fit best. You will also need to demonstrate why your inspired ideas are better than any similar products that may already be on the market. The validity of each statement in your grant application must be systematically proven on a point by point basis in order to achieve government recognition. Be aware that most grant applications are submitted electronically through the
grants.gov website, so be sure to register with the site before you proceed with any paperwork. First time registration usually takes about two weeks to complete, so don’t wait until the last minute. With some strategically applied perspiration, you can also prove to the federal government that your inspired research and development ideas are ingenious enough to be worth investing in.
Asheville, North Carolina is now using Azavea’s DecisionTree software for its Priority Places application. Users can site businesses, facilities and activities based on a weighted set of decision factors. DecisionTree was developed in part with critical funding from the SBIR Grant Program.
