In January, I contributed a guest post to Silicon Prairie News that discussed the reasons for measuring venture capital as a bellwether for investment and investible deals (Building an entrepreneurial ecosystem: what does success look like?). Another bellwether that we at the Omaha Chamber utilize is Small Business Innovation Research grants or “SBIRs”. SBIRs are excellent indicators of (1) research, development and commercialization in a state and (2) pipeline strength of future investible deals. Obviously, not every deal comes from an SBIR, but we believe that SBIRs represent an easily measured instrument that is instructive regarding current market conditions.

SBIR Explained

SBIRs are grants written by 11 federal agencies intended to help small businesses create and commercialize new innovations and technologies. The program consists of three phases of funding:

• Phase I (Feasibility): Awards range from $75k to $150k
• Phase II (Prototype): Awards range from about $250k to $1MM
• Phase III (Commercialization): This is considered an outside funding from a customer or private enterprise – so some groups do not even match this type of funding.

To read the full, original article click on this link: SBIR grants explained & impact on region analyzed - Silicon Prairie News

Author: Tom Chapman