Tag Archives: SBIR

SBA Awards LaunchTN Grant to Support Small Business Innovation and R&D Commercialization

The U.S. Small Business Administration recently granted 24 awards up to $125,000 in the Fiscal Year 2019 through its Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program. TAEBC’s Energy Mentor Network partner, Launch Tennessee (LaunchTN), was named the grant recipient for Tennessee.

The program’s goal is to improve outcomes for underrepresented entrepreneurs in its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs. FAST also aims to increase participation for rural-based, women-owned and economically disadvantaged firms.

In addition to receiving one-year of funding beginning September 30, the FAST program offers mentorship, technical assistance, specialized training and outreach opportunities for R&D focused small businesses. Organizations use the funding to help enact state and regional programs that support SBIR applicants and awardees.

“FAST partners support an important role in attempting to fill various gaps that R&D-focused small businesses may have to help them win SBIR/STTR awards,” said Acting Administrator Christopher Pilkerton in a prepared statement. “They focus on the needs of next-generation high-tech firms and support them through the entire cycle from ideation to commercialization. SBIR funding is one way to do that. Additionally, a number of these awards are going to partners that are located in Opportunity Zones where job creation and investments are moving forward to revitalize communities.”

To learn more about FAST, follow this link.

Launch Tennessee hosting upcoming commercialization resources workshop

Join Launch Tennessee on Monday, May 13 in Chattanooga for an engaging workshop on Tennessee’s SBIR and commercialization resources.

By attending the workshop, you’ll get in-depth exposure to federal grant funding opportunities and learn of resources available to Tennesseans.

Tennessee is one of few states with an entrepreneur-resource infrastructure operating at the state level. Through our statewide partner network, we deliver curriculum, mentors and more to entrepreneurs building high-growth-potential businesses.

LaunchTN maintains a portfolio of resources for Tennessee-based entrepreneurial researchers to advance their commercialization efforts. These resources include:

  1. Networks programs that pair mentors with promising new companies and entrepreneurs;
  2. Microgrants that provide financial support for grant-writing assistance to Tennessee-based early-stage companies; and
  3. the SBIR Matching Fund that provides non-dilutive capital to Tennessee-based companies upon their successful federal grant award.

Lunch will be provided. Please direct questions about this workshop to allie@launchtn.org

You can register for the workshop here.

Apply for a Microgrant and Let Launch TN Advance Your Business

Launch TN, the state’s public-private partnership focused on supporting the development of high-growth companies, recently announced the Microgrants program – ideal for TAEBC members.

Tennessee-based early-stage companies currently or in the near-term that will be applying for a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I, Phase II or Fast-Track award can use the Microgrants program to increase the quality of their application. Microgrants can provide financial support for quality SBIR/STTR grant-writing assistance.Launch-Tennessee-logo-stacked

TAEBC member Renewable Algal Energy (RAE) is an example of how a program like this can help jump start a business model.

As RAE CEO and TAEBC board member Jeff Kanel explained in a Teknovation column, RAE has created what it describes as “novel breakthrough technology to produce sustainable, economically viable products from microalgae.” Those offerings range from algal oil as a feedstock for renewable diesel fuel to protein, carotenoids, and omega-3 fatty acids for animal and human nutrition.

Three of the four SBIRs that Kanel submitted were directly related to evolving RAE’s technology. The fourth, focusing on algae, was submitted by Kanel before RAE was founded. For many start-ups, an early funding source is an SBIR award.

RAE started down the SBIR trail in 2007 in a purposeful way. Kanel said success starts with understanding the federal agency’s need. In his case, it was the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The initial Phase I for RAE was submitted in 2007, and the award was made in 2008.

His recommended approach – focusing on the defined DOE need – characterized RAE’s responses that won the Phase II and III awards. Kanel identified several keys for success. They included utilization of solid project management tools, inclusion of well-defined milestones and deliverables, and a clear understanding of the critical success factors.

Over a roughly six-year period, RAE successfully won Phase I, II and III awards that have proven the viability of the technology, helped fund work to validate the financial model and scalability of the technology, and deploy a semi-works facility.

Today, RAE has strategic relationships, customers, and a technology proving ground in Arizona as well as a North-American developer with a site that is permitted for the deployment of RAE Technology.

Phase II, again funded by DOE, ran from 2009 to 2012, with RAE collecting considerable amounts of data to show financial viability and technology scalability.

Phase III, which ran from 2012 into 2014, was an accelerator period when RAE deployed the technology in a semi-works scale effort designed to reduce the technology risk. This final phase helped RAE to secure contracts with interested partners.

In mid-2014, the company announced two strategic partnerships. One was an off-take agreement with Neste Oil Corporation, the world’s largest producer of renewable diesel fuel. Under the arrangement, Neste can purchase RAE’s crude algae oil on a commercial scale for use as a feedstock for producing renewable fuel.

And, all of this success was made possible through SBIR grants.

TAEBC encourages members to consider applying for the Microgrants program to help navigate the SBIR/STTR process.

For information about how to apply for the Launch TN Microgrants program, visit here.

For more about RAE’s success, visit here and here.

Renewable Algal Energy has won four Small Business Innovation Research awards

TAEBC member Renewable Algal Energy (RAE) was featured in a two-part series on Teknovation.biz for its successful use of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants to scale its business model.

RAE’s CEO, Jeff Kanel, has been very focused and purposeful in using the SBIR program to strategically advance the company.

Kanel describes his keys for success in submitting and winning the awards: utilization of solid project management tools, inclusion of well-defined milestones and deliverables, and a clear understanding of the critical success factors.

RAE has created what is describes as “novel breakthrough technology to produce a sustainable, economically viable product from micro algae.” Those offerings range from algal oil as a feedstock for renewable diesel fuel to protein, carotenoids, and omega-3 fatty acids for animal and human nutrition.

“Our model is to be a technology licensor,” said Kanel. “We are trying to make algae a profitable endeavor that also solves a lot of global problems.”

Three of the four SBIRs that Kanel submitted were directly related to evolving RAE’s technology. The fourth, also focused on algae, was submitted by Kanel before RAE was founded.

Over a roughly six-year period, RAE has successfully won Phase I, II and III awards that have proven the viability of the technology, helped fund work to validate the financial model and scalability of the technology, and deploy a semi-works facility.

Today, RAE has strategic relationships, customers, and a technology proving ground in Arizona as well as a North-American developer with a site that is permitted for the deployment of RAE Technology.

“By going through the SBIR Phase I, we matched-up a proof on concept (that showed) what we were doing had a chance of success,” Kanel said. The proposal was submitted to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in 2007. The award and work were conducted in 2008.

Phase II, again funded by DOE, ran from 2009 to 2012, with RAE collecting considerable amounts of data to show financial viability and technology scalability.

“We were moving the proof of concept to commercialization,” Kanel says in describing that period.

Phase III, which ran from 2012 into 2014, was an accelerator period when RAE deployed the technology in a semi-works scale effort designed to reduce the technology risk. This final phase helped RAE to secure contracts with interested partners.

Read Part 1 and Part 2 of the series on the Teknovation.biz website to learn more about why and how SBIRs had a solid impact on RAE’s development.