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4 Qualitative Assessment: Company and University Perspectives
Pages 52-72

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From page 52...
... This chapter is organized into three broad sections: • Small business concern (SBC) perspectives • Company concerns and recommendations • STTR and the National Laboratories Together, these sections provide the first wide-ranging publicly available feedback of the STTR program from program recipients and universities.
From page 53...
... . The survey provided opportunities for STTR recipients to describe differences between the SBIR and STTR programs, explain the impact of STTR on their companies, and suggest improvements to the program.
From page 54...
... Furthermore, because there are few STTR awards overall, it is difficult to make supportable generalizations about the program at individual agencies, or individual components within DoD. 2 2 Interview with Bradley Guay, Army STTR program manager, September 2, 2015.
From page 55...
... 3 Nevertheless, most respondents and case study interviewees did see differences between the programs. Aside from the formal differences between the programs noted in Chapter 2, some survey respondents and case study interviewees said that, broadly speaking, where there were differences in topics, STTR topics tended to be more research-oriented and less focused on short-term commercialization.
From page 56...
... said that the origin of the technology in his company's STTR projects might be the small business or the research institution. Company Motivations Although all STTR awards are made in response to a solicitation from the awarding agency, company motives for seeking STTR awards can be categorized into four primary areas: • To access equipment and expertise for technology development to be found only at a research institution • To help commercialize technology developed at the research institution • To garner funding by addressing needs expressed through a solicitation • To acquire indirect benefits from the program, such as reinforcing or developing links to an appropriate research institution partner, or identifying possible new employees.
From page 57...
... One survey respondent noted, "The STTR program is important to us because it helps gain and/or strengthen relationships with research universities in the area. This expands our technical horizons, and, most important, provides us with a glimpse and first bid on a pool of young, qualified new staff members, reducing our hiring timelines and risks." Another respondent wrote, "Interaction with research institutions provides access to knowledge, experience, and resources not available within the company." Dr.
From page 58...
... The STTR mechanism is not for short term R&D but should be part of a long term strategy." Another respondent wrote, "STTR awards are beneficial to expand company relationships to potential future employees (graduate students) and outside perspectives." This point can be aligned with quantitative data presented in Chapter 5 -- for example, Table 5-2 shows that 71 percent of respondents indicate that STTR has resulted in an enhanced relationship with the research institution.
From page 59...
... One survey respondent said, "Success of the STTR program depends a lot on the effort made by the University. One problem we consistently faced is that the academics tend to look at research as an open-ended problem whereas a small company has TABLE 4-1 Research Institution (RI)
From page 60...
... There is no real urgency on the part of universities so work and deliverables are always slipping. Students working on STTR projects also do not place a high priority on the work." Another respondent wrote, "One must be very careful when choosing a partner for an STTR program.
From page 61...
... for results that may or may not meet company needs." Another respondent explained, "It is hard enough getting a technology developed, prototyped, and delivered to a user who cares on limited funds. Having to fund a University makes it extremely difficult to achieve a positive outcome." Other survey respondents noted that the mandated division of funding may not be optimally designed for the project: "Under STTR, the small business has less flexibility to determine the optimum split of funding between the
From page 62...
... Discussions with both companies and technology transfer offices (TTOs) revealed a wide variation in attitudes and polices at research institutions toward licensing their intellectual property and the IP agreement that is mandatory for STTR awards.
From page 63...
... with an STTR I have to manage the conflict of interest requirements of the University." The administrative burden imposed by STTR awards can be challenging: "Without the help of our experienced principal investigator and to a lesser extent the Project Manager, the rules and reporting requirements can be quite formidable for a small company like ours. I know there are rules and regulations behind why things are done, but simplifying the interface between NIH and the recipient would be helpful." Forty-five percent of survey
From page 64...
... The agent halted the grant, and this could not be reversed even though DOE SBIR/STTR program officers agreed that the decision was wrong. I had to mortgage my house, and this almost sunk the company." Dr.
From page 65...
... As one respondent noted, "STTR awards are less valuable to the business because so much of the award is taken by indirect costs at the research institution." As on average research institutions receive about 40 percent of an STTR award, then the indirect cost or "tax" on STTR projects for research institutions is approximately 12 percent of overall funding: a significant slice of the pie, especially for projects with tight budgets to begin with. Issues similar to these are being addressed elsewhere.
From page 66...
... Some survey respondents clearly preferred SBIR because the company itself is more efficient in conducting commercially oriented research.
From page 67...
... 10 STTR AND THE NATIONAL LABORATORIES At DoE, about one-third of STTR awards involve partnerships with National Laboratories. This is not the case for other agencies, although all have STTR awards for which a National Laboratories is the research institution partner.
From page 68...
... noted that each laboratory has its own culture; Xia worked quite successfully with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, but not with other laboratories. Several survey respondents and interviewees noted that STTR agreements with National Laboratories were less enforceable than SBIR subcontracts.
From page 69...
... Still, interviewees and survey respondents provided cases of highly successful STTR partnerships with National Laboratories. These seemed especially likely to succeed if the small business had a deep understanding of the laboratory.
From page 70...
... Referencing 2011-2014 Survey question 80 (See Appendix C) , 45 percent of the 211 survey respondents who had sought and received both SBIR and STTR awards, found that STTR was harder to manage than SBIR.
From page 71...
... Their SBIR and STTR programs do not, in practice, focus on different objectives, and to the maximum extent possible managers at these three agencies operate their SBIR and STTR programs in parallel or even a combined entity where feasible. As a result, there is minimal or even zero operational differences in the management of the STTR and SBIR programs at the granting agencies.
From page 72...
... 13 The Academies 2015 report on SBIR/STTR at NIH, reports that 63 percent of SBIR Phase II respondents participating in the NIH SBIR program indicated a university connection. 14 And the Academies 2015 report on SBIR at NSF, finds that 58 percent of SBIR Phase II respondents participating in the NSF SBIR program indicated a university connection.


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