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4 SBIR and STTR Awards at DoE
Pages 83-110

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From page 83...
... • SBIR and STTR Phase II awards (excluding Fast Track) totaled $131 million (71.2 percent of total funding)
From page 84...
... Until FY 2014, only Phase I winners could apply for Phase II funding. An average of about 272 Phase I awards were made each year during the study period, although the numbers have declined in recent years, reaching a low of 191 in FY 2014.
From page 85...
... Success rates for Phase II grant applications varied by year and declined slightly in recent years, averaging slightly less than 50 percent across the study period. The number of Phase II SBIR awards also declined over the study period.
From page 86...
... Phase IIA and Phase IIB Awards In an effort to improve outcomes for Phase II and to help companies transition to the market, DoE has added two types of additional awards to its programs. Phase IIA provides a small amount of funding to companies completing a Phase II and requiring additional help.
From page 87...
... Companies varied in their capacity to convert Phase I into Phase II, with a DoE average conversion rate 1 from Phase I to Phase II awards of about 45 percent across the study period. DETAILED DATA: SBIR AND STTR AWARDS AT DOE The remainder of the chapter provides more detailed information about SBIR and STTR applications and awards at DoE.
From page 88...
... FIGURE 4-2 Breakdown of DoE SBIR/STTR funding by program, phase, and funding mechanism, FY 2014. SOURCE: DoE SBIR/STTR Program Office.
From page 89...
... FIGURE 4-3 Total funding for SBIR, FY 2005-2014. SOURCE: DoE SBIR/STTR Program Office.
From page 90...
... FIGURE 4-5 Number of Phase I SBIR awards, FY 2005-2014. SOURCE: DoE SBIR/STTR Program Office.
From page 91...
... . Phase II SBIR Awards Aside from the one-time increase in FY 2010 due to ARRA, funding devoted to Phase II SBIR awards has trended slightly upwards and now appears likely to surpass $100 million annually (see Figure 4-9)
From page 92...
... FIGURE 4-8 Success rates for Phase I SBIR applications, FY 2005-2014. SOURCE: DoE SBIR/STTR Program Office.
From page 93...
... FIGURE 4-10 Number of Phase II SBIR awards, FY 2005-2014. SOURCE: DoE SBIR/STTR Program Office.
From page 94...
... Overall, the number of Phase II SBIR applications received by DoE has been steady, except for the increase due to ARRA in FY 2010 and the anomalous decline in FY 2012. Unlike at some other agencies, the number of applications to DoE increased during the last 2 years of the study period (see Figure 4-12)
From page 95...
... FIGURE 4-13 Phase II SBIR success rates, FY 2005-2014. SOURCE: DoE SBIR/STTR Program Office.
From page 96...
... In addition, as with Phase I, funding for Phase II STTR increased through FY 2010 before declining thereafter (again with the anomalous low funding in FY 2012) (see Figure 4-18)
From page 97...
... FIGURE 4-16 Funding for Phase I STTR awards, FY 2005-2014. SOURCE: DoE SBIR/STTR Program Office.
From page 98...
... FIGURE 4-18 Funding for Phase II STTR awards, FY 2005-2014. SOURCE: DoE SBIR/STTR Program Office.
From page 99...
... TABLE 4-3 Number of Fast Track Applications and Awards, FY 2005-2014 SBIR STTR Number of Applications 12 13 Number of Awards 9 4 SOURCE: DoE SBIR/STTR Program Office. TABLE 4-4 Applications Outcomes for Phase IIA and Phase IIB, FY 2014 Phase IIA Applications Phase IIB Applications Awarded 61.5 32.1 Recommended for Funding - Not Awarded 23.1 13.2 Not Recommended for Funding 15.4 49.1 Declined Without Review 0.4 0.4 SOURCE: DoE SBIR/STTR Program Office.
From page 100...
... This suggests that the quality of applications varies substantially and that simply seeking to increase the number of applications from firms within a state will not necessarily result in more awards to firms in that state. Phase II SBIR and the States Table 4-6 provides Phase II SBIR applications and awards data for FY 2005-2014 by state, normalized for population, as well as data on the science
From page 101...
... The 10 lowest awarded states (normalized for population) generated an average of 12.3 applications per 1 million population over the study period.
From page 102...
... of Applications per One No. of Awards Success Rate (Percent)
From page 103...
... 2015; U.S. Census Bureau (state populations)
From page 104...
... of Applications No. of Awards per One Success Rate (Percent)
From page 105...
... ; U.S. Census Bureau (state populations)
From page 106...
... SOURCE: DoE SBIR/STTR Program Office.
From page 107...
... 4 As to be expected, many of the same companies were also among the top 20 Phase II SBIR award winners. However, their ability to convert Phase I wins into Phase II awards varied substantially, with the Analysis and Measurement Services Corporation converting 80 percent of its Phase I projects into Phase II awards, while Physical Optics converted only about 40 percent.
From page 108...
... Having a sizable percentage of awards going to a relatively small subset of awardees, which include mature companies as well as startups, is not per se evidence of a problem, but it is worth probing. There are several reasons why a given company might seek and receive multiple SBIR or STTR awards: • The company is meeting agency mission needs by providing innovative solutions.
From page 109...
... • The company specializes in research with a business model that focuses on licensing or selling its intellectual property rather than in-house product development. If the application is consistent with the agency's published topic list, if reviewers find the proposed technology development promising without major shortcomings and the business plan reasonable, and if the agency's program managers find that the proposal competitively aligns with DoE interests relative to other applications, an application may be approved despite previous awards to the same applicant.
From page 110...
... Therefore, there appears no compelling reason at this time to recommend that the number of awards per company or the age of company applicants or principal Investigators be constrained. At the same time, it is prudent that DoE monitor the percentage of multiple awards and the composite age of company applicants (e.g., ratio of startups to mature companies)


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