An Assessment of the SBIR Program at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (2009) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 11-25
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From page 11... ...
This evidence gained new credibility with empirical analysis by Zoltan Acs and David Audretsch of the U.S. Small Business Innovation Data Base, which confirmed the increased importance of small firms in generating technological innovations and their growing contribution to the U.S.
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From page 12... ...
Today, the legislative guidance anticipates normal Phase I grants around $100,000. • Phase II grants are larger -- typically about $750,000 -- and fund more extensive R&D to develop the scientific and commercial promise of research ideas. • Phase III.
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From page 13... ...
102-564) , which reauthorized the SBIR program until September 30, 2000, doubled the set-aside rate to 2.5 percent. This increase in the percentage of R&D funds allocated to the program was accompanied by a stronger emphasis on encouraging the commercialization of SBIR-funded tech See Reid Cramer, "Patterns of Firm Participation in the Small Business Innovation Research Program in Southwestern and Mountain States," in National Research Council, The Small Business Innovation Research Program: An Assessment of the Department of Defense Fast Track Initiative, Charles W
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From page 14... ...
11 Information about the program was also gathered through interviews with SBIR program administrators and during four major conferences where SBIR officials See Robert Archibald and David Finifter, "Evaluation of the Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Fast Track Initiative: A Balanced Approach," in National Research Council, The Small Business Innovation Research Program: An Assessment of the Department of Defense Fast Track Initiative, op.
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From page 15... ...
A second challenge concerns the linear process of commercialization implied by the design of SBIR's three-phase structure.13 In the linear model, illustrated in Figure 1-1, innovation begins with basic research supplying a steady stream 12 The opening conference on October 24, 2002, examined the program's diversity and assessment challenges. For a published report of this conference, see National Research Council, SBIR: Program Diversity and Assessment Challenges, Charles W
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From page 16... ...
In addition, principal investigators or other key individuals can change firms, carrying their knowledge of an SBIR project with them. A technology developed using SBIR funds may eventually achieve commercial success at an entirely different company than that which received the initial SBIR award.
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From page 17... ...
, venture capital, corpo rate partners, and internal funding to develop and commercialize ideas that were originally generated at universities or with commercial partners. Securing venture capital funding can be difficult even in the best of times; Luna received only two small investments during the late 1990s bubble.
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From page 18... ...
NASA's new Mars Mission is one example of a mission shift that may result in the cancellation of programs involving SBIR awards to make room for new agency priorities. Cancelled weapons system programs at the Department of Defense can have similar effects.
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From page 19... ...
As a point of comparison, Gail Cassell, Vice President for Scientific Affairs at Eli Lilly, has noted that only one in ten innovative products in the biotechnology industry will turn out to be a commercial success.18 Similarly, venture capital funds often achieve considerable commercial success on only two or three out of twenty or more investments.19 In setting metrics for SBIR projects, therefore, it is important to have a realistic expectation of the success rate for competitive awards to small firms investing in promising but unproven technologies. Similarly, it is important to have some understanding of what can be reasonably expected -- that is, what constitutes "success" for an SBIR award, and some understanding of the constraints and opportunities successful SBIR awardees face in bringing new products to market.
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From page 20... ...
The NASA SBIR program has varied over the years in terms of how centralized it is. Until recently, program operations were run at each of the ten NASA field centers with NASA Headquarters, supported by a national office located at Goddard, focusing on the overall administration of the program.
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From page 21... ...
? 1.7.1 Surveys of NASA SBIR Award-recipient Companies Original data gathered by the research team in support of the NRC study of NASA SBIR program included a survey of NASA Phase II award-recipient firms; a survey NASA Phase I award-recipient firms that did not also receive a Phase II award; a survey of NASA technical staff involved in the SBIR program; numerous interviews with NASA personnel directly involved in administering the SBIR program; the assessment and analysis of data provided by NASA's SBIR staff; and company case studies.
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From page 22... ...
Projects from firms with multiple awards were underrepresented in the sample, because they could not be expected to complete a questionnaire for each of possibly numerous awards received; but they may have been overrepresented in the responses because they might be more committed to the SBIR program. Nearly 40 percent of respondents began Phase I efforts after 1998, partly because the number of Phase I awards increased, starting in the late 1990s, and partly because winners from more distant years are harder to reach, as small businesses regularly cease operations, staff with knowledge of SBIR awards leave, and institutional knowledge erodes.
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From page 23... ...
The selected case studies include firms from a variety of locations, across a range of founding dates, having received different numbers of SBIR awards received, and representing a variety of technological domains. The case studies highlight the ways companies use the SBIR program: the extent to which SBIR is important to their company's survival and growth, whether and how they intend to commercialize SBIR technology, whether and how the receipt of multiple awards influence their ability to commercialize, what challenges they have faced in the commercialization process, in what way they see the SBIR program serving the needs of technology entrepreneurs and how they believe the program can be improved.
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From page 24... ...
He pointed out that "SBIR is a brick, not a building." A combination of SBIR awards were used to build the CT industrial inspection technology. ARACOR was purchased in 2004 by OSI Sys tems, Inc.
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From page 25... ...
Chapter 3 reviews awards made by NASA. Chapter 4 looks at the outcomes of the NASA SBIR program, including commercial sales and employment effects.
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