SBIR Program Diversity and Assessment Challenges Report of a Symposium (2004) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Panel V — SBIR at the National Science Foundation
Panel V — SBIR at the National Science Foundation
Pages 123-137
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 123... ...
"It's an important program, because it's a collective investment in the nation's future, and it merits our most thoughtful attention and evaluation. The NSF welcomes the opportunity to join the other members of the SBIR team to provide an initial overview of the SBIR program." The SBIR as a Collaborative Process He emphasized the importance of viewing the SBIR study as a collaborative exercise.
|
From page 124... ...
He said, "It isn't difficult to see that the SBIR fits NSF's strategic vision to a `T'." NSF invested approximately $85 million in the program each year, and the SBIR portfolio spanned nearly every directorate: engineering, bioscience, the physical and mathematical sciences, information and communication science, and even research and education itself. Because the SBIR team planned and coordinated the
|
From page 125... ...
The pace of discovery and innovation had accelerated and competition had expanded, and to evaluate SBIR properly required understanding this rapidly evolving context. "This is not the stream we were swimming in the past," he said.
|
From page 126... ...
Genomics and the biotechnology industry were one example; the budding field of nanotechnology was likely to be another, where for the first time scientists had the ability to investigate highly complex phenomena. Several decades previously the frontier of science and engineering was divided into disciplines, because there were no tools capable of crossing disciplinary boundaries.
|
From page 127... ...
This maturation had required new levels of trust and collaboration between federal agencies and, in the end, led to a productive team that had turned the SBIR team into an integrated national program. Whether we welcomed it or not, he concluded, the outpouring of new knowledge and the pace of technological change were unlikely to lessen soon.
|
From page 128... ...
By 1989 it had grown to 55 employees and was earning a profit on $5 million in revenues. In 1990, the Japanese firm Nippon Sheet Glass bought his company for $12 million, and in 1999 it was acquired by JDS Uniphase for $400 million, near the height of the telecom boom.
|
From page 129... ...
"That is a very satisfying thing to us," said Dr. Olsen, "and a great sign to the SBIR system that it works extremely well." He then offered a more detailed description of Sensors Unlimited, which started as an infrared camera company, using focal plane arrays.
|
From page 130... ...
It could distinguish camouflage clothing from vegetation, and provided more sensitive detection at night than night-vision goggles. SBIR Fosters Partnerships The SBIR system had also allowed the company to form partnerships with a variety of public and private entities, including Princeton University, Sarnoff Corporation, Rutgers University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rockwell International Science Center, and the New Jersey Technology Council (see Table 3)
|
From page 131... ...
Gabriel said she had spent about 5 years at the National Science Foundation engineering directorate, where the SBIR program is located, where she worked with the founders of the program, including symposium attendees Roland Tibbets and Richard Coryell. Her current job as Vice Provost at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, includes research, technology transfer, and regional economic development, the last of which was "what our region wants from us as a university." Universities and Regional Development The city of Pittsburgh, she said, "was launched and built by the entrepreneurs of a hundred years ago, notably Andrew Carnegie." But the collapse of the U.S.
|
From page 132... ...
Questions for the Panel She suggested that the members of the study panel listen carefully to what the agencies had learned in the past 20 years and use that history to create useful results. She acknowledged that the steering committee, on which she served, was "really struggling to figure out how this program can contribute even better to the national innovation system," especially as a program that required teamwork among all the agencies.
|
From page 133... ...
Could regional clusters of small businesses, with particular tech nologies, be promoted by a federal program whose agenda concerned in novation in its broadest sense on a national scale? · Finally, how could this program partner with other efforts so as to strengthen the country's overall innovation system?
|
From page 134... ...
Olsen's comment that the SBIR has value as an alternative to a venture capital fund. But he said that "the basic question is how can we increase the pool we can draw from, and is that pool changing; are we getting different kinds of research as a result?
|
From page 135... ...
And the endpoint is growing the capacity of the country -- strengthening the workforce." SBIR and Venture Capital Steven Wallach of Penney and Edmonds revisited Dr. Goldston's question about the extent to which the activities of the private sector could substitute for
|
From page 136... ...
Why would the venture capitalist of today not think that the chance of a high return justified the risk of an investment in similar companies? Gregory Olsen answered that one problem in matching small companies with venture capital funding is "deal size." The average deal size for venture capitalists, he said, was now more than $7 million and rising.
|
From page 137... ...
Deal Size in Venture Capital Investments Carl Ray of the NASA SBIR program asked about the "deal size" as the limiting factor for the involvement of venture capital. He wanted to know whether venture capital firms might fund SBIR-type companies on a pool basis to reduce the risk.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.