SBIR/STTR at the Department of Energy (2016) / Chapter Skim
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3 DoE Initiatives
3 DoE Initiatives
Pages 68-82
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From page 68... ...
Electronic Outreach During the past few years, DoE has developed an extensive outreach program organized primarily around the delivery of digital information, notably through a library of webinars and efforts to drive traffic to these resources. Since 2012 Dawnbreaker, a third-party training organization, has maintained the website on DoE's behalf.
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From page 69... ...
Compared to professional conferences, where program management often has limited access to participant lists and relies on the collection of business cards or similar smallscale outreach, webinars -- the lists of those who accessed outreach materials by attending live webinars and watching outreach materials via recorded webinars made available through playback -- provided for a more direct connection of TMs to potential applicants. More generally, Program Office staff believe that the web-based focus is highly efficient in terms of reaching potential applicants and providing clear and specific information, compared to more traditional forms of outreach.
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From page 70... ...
The program is "modeled after and carried out in conjunction with" state Phase 0 programs. 2 Managed by Dawnbreaker under a $1 million annual contract, the program provides a range of services to applicants who meet one of the four target criteria listed in Chapter 2; have not received a DoE SBIR/STTR award during the past 3 years; and have not received technical assistance for a similar technology from DoE for the past 2 years.
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From page 71... ...
• Market research assistance. Although DoE requires only limited commercialization plans for Phase I applications, it requires revenue projections over a 10-year period.
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From page 72... ...
Manny Oliver, SBIR/STTR Program Manager, indicated that, if possible, subsequent rounds will seek to attract new participants, especially from underrepresented groups, who have not yet contacted the program. TABLE 3-2 Participation and Milestones for DoE Phase 0, Spring 2015 Number Percentage Total Phase 0 Participants 69 Participants with Responsive LOIs 54 78% (of Total Participants)
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From page 73... ...
However, other case study interviewees suggested that focusing on commercial targets at the earliest stage has important benefits: the increased emphasis on commercialization may encourage some companies to be more selective in the subtopics they pursue. Phase II applicants are now required to provide a much more detailed and extended commercialization plan, including specific revenue calculations, which is reviewed by commercialization experts hired by DoE.
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From page 74... ...
Fast Track In FY 2013, DoE implemented a Fast Track program similar to that in place at NIH. Under Fast Track, companies can apply for a unified Phase IPhase II award, in which Phase II proceeds automatically if the company meets predetermined technical milestones.
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From page 75... ...
SUPPORT FOR IMPROVED COMMERCIALIZATION OUTCOMES DoE has a taken several steps to improve commercialization outcomes from the SBIR/STTR programs. Sequential Phase II Awards Since FY 2014, DoE has taken advantage of the new flexibility provided under the 2011 congressional reauthorization to offer sequential
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From page 78... ...
• Phase IIB is modeled on Phase IIB at other agencies, notably NSF and NIH, and is designed to provide more substantial transition funding. However, unlike NSF, which requires Phase IIB SBC applicants to secure matching funds from other sources in order to be eligible for the NSF IIB grant, DoE Phase IIB awards do not require matching funds of any kind from the SBC.
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From page 79... ...
Money remaining in the $5,000 annual budget per project that is not spent on Dawnbreaker services is returned to the SBIR/STTR programs at DoE, and funding from the first year of a Phase II award cannot be rolled over into the second year. Phase I CAP Assistance Phase I assistance focuses on providing a Commercialization Readiness Assessment, which is primarily designed to help the company develop an effective commercialization plan for its Phase II proposal.
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From page 80... ...
5 A Business Acceleration Manager is assigned from Dawnbreaker to each participating company, and after each company signs Dawnbreaker's Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) , approved by DoE, it can receive services which can include: • A Commercialization Readiness Assessment (CRA)
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From page 81... ...
Thus, for example, Dawnbreaker provides introductions of companies to potential investors, but that is the extent of their support in that area. Effectiveness of the Commercialization Assistance Program There are three sources of data on general program outcomes and on commercialization that, together, can shed light on the effectiveness of CAP: (1)
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From page 82... ...
Fast Track, Phase IIB, and third-party commercialization support were adopted directly from NSF, and Phase IIA closely resembles the availability of supplementary funding at NIH. Another beneficial initiative has been the introduction of an open period between the release of topics and the FOA (similar to a practice at the Department of Defense)
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