Government & Business Grants

There is always a possibility that you can apply for and receive a government grant. Once you've created your business plan you should identify the keywords in the plan and Google those keywords looking for grants. You can determine if there are any available business grants that you qualify for and submit your grant application for funding. Example. There are state and national small business innovation research programs, acronym SBIR. These are a highly competitive programs that encourage small businesses to explore their technological potential. The idea is to provide profit incentive for the commercialization of their technology innovation. Qualified small businesses in the nation's R&D arena are incentivize to develop high-tech innovation. Again these programs are extremely difficult to qualify for and you should only pursue it as an adjunct to attempting to raise capital through another source such as a Regulation D Exempt private placement.

Small businesses must meet certain all eligibility criteria to participate in the SBIR program.

• The company must be American owned and independently operated
• it must be for profit
• the principal researcher must be employed by the business
• the company size cannot be greater than 500 employees

Each year 10 federal departments and agencies are required by SBIR to reserve a portion of the R&D funds for wards to small business.

• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce
• Department of Defense
• Department of Education
• Department of Energy
• Department of Health and Human Services
• Department of Transportation
• Department of Environmental Protection agency
• The National Aeronautics and space administration are NASA
• National Science Foundation

These agencies designate R&D topics and accept proposals so go online and determine if you have a product or service that falls within their grant guideline.

Grants are provided in three phases

Phase 1 awards up to $100,000 for approximately 6 months support for the exploration of the technical merit or feasibility of an idea or technology.

Phase 2 awards up to $750,000 for as many as two years, it expand phase 1 results.

During this time the R&D work is performed and the developer evaluates commercialization potential. Only phase 1 award winners are considered for phase 2.

Phase 3 is the period during which Phase 2 innovation moves from the laboratory into the marketplace. No SBIR funds support this phase. At this point the small business must find funding in the private sector or other non-SBIR federal agency funding.

To explore all the different options that may be available you should consider our audio seminars. Link to Audio Seminars

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