SBIR Roundtable: Recommended actions for Washington State

On March 18 the Washington Economic Development Commission hosted a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) roundtable at the Puget Sound Regional Council conference room. Participants included Commissioner Jack Breese and representatives for WBBA, UW, OVP, PNNL, WTC, SIRTI, SBDC, and Workforce Training Board.  Our special invited guest was Dr. Charles Wessner of the National Academies of Sciences.  He led the definitive evaluation study of the SBIR program. Download 2010_03_18_Wessner_Seattle-SBIR The SBIR program is the largest US innovation partnership program, currently funded at $2.5 billion per year. The program has dual benefits: 1) solves critical technological problems for federal agencies and 2) provides important “first money” for entrepreneurs to jump start their ideas toward commercialization. Universities are also finding it a useful tool to move ideas from the research lab to the market. Washington state was 11^th among states in total SBIR dollars awarded in 2009 ($48 million).  This compares to California ($383 million), Massachusetts ($230 million), and Virginia ($151 million).  To do better we need to boost the number of SBIR applicants.

Recommended action items that emerged from the roundtable discussion:

1.   Increase awareness of the SBIR program to WA state entrepreneurs and small businesses.

2.   Establish a self service web portal for the SBIR program.

3.   Express strong endorsement of the federal SBIR program to key members of the WA congressional delegation.

4.   Expand the federal/state innovation partnership in the biomedical and life sciences field.

5.   Collaborate with the National Academies on a conference exploring the role of foundations in bridging the commercialization gap (valley of death).

6.   Assess feasibility of a Phase 0 program to jump start WA participation in the SBIR program.

7.   Strengthen the connection among the SBA, SBDCs, MEPs and SBIR agencies to enhance entrepreneurship and small business innovation.

8.    Continue to promote new funding mechanisms for closing the commercialization gap in WA State.