NSF EXPANDS COMMITMENT TO TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BY LINKING SMALL BUSINESSES
TO UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS

September 23, 1993 -- To accelerate the transformation of ideas into
marketable products, the National Science Foundation is joining a new
federal program that links entrepreneurs to the academic research
community.

Called the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) pilot program, the
effort will encourage commercialization of government-funded research by
the private sector. Four other agencies--National Institutes of Health,
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Departments of
Energy and Defense--are participating.  The program calls for each agency
to devote 0.05 percent of its extramural research budget to STTR in fiscal
year 1994, 0.1 percent in 1995, and 0.15 percent in 1996.

NSF will announce approximately $1.2 million in awards next spring. Merit
review will be integral to the selection process.  Each project will
receive up to $100,000 in its first year to explore its feasibility and
refine its focus.  A subsequent award--of up to $350,000 over two
years--may be made to foster design and development.  With about a dozen
awards expected initially, NSF will focus on analytical chemical
instrumentation, a field that has broad impact, a large potential market,
and a short marketing time period.

The STTR program requires that small businesses originate the proposals,
collaborate with researchers from a university or non-profit institution,
and present a model agreement that details the rights of the partners.

"By coupling research institutions to technology developers, this program
puts effective innovation on a fast track to the marketplace," said Acting
NSF Director Frederick Bernthal.  "At NSF, it reinforces our efforts to
encourage entrepreneurial research and complements the highly regarded
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program pioneered by NSF."

NSF initiated the country's first SBIR program in 1977.  Five years later
the effort was expanded by Congress to include 11 federal agencies.
According to the General Accounting Office, SBIR-derived product sales
exceeded $1 billion by July 1991 and will surpass $3 billion by the end of
1993.  NSF's Division of Industrial Innovation Interface oversees the
agency's participation in both the SBIR and STTR programs.

According to Joseph Bordogna, head of NSF's Directorate for Engineering,
"At NSF, we've seen tremendous achievements arise from our SBIR support of
business ideas that were sound both scientifically and commercially, from
advances in fish-farming to the development of durable, palm-sized,
portable microcomputer-based science laboratories for schoolchildren. The
STTR program complements these efforts with its call for synergistic
partnerships between small businesses and the scientific community. And
we're ready to help."

On Oct. 13-15 in Arlington, Va., NSF and the Department of Defense will
sponsor the first of three national conferences that will provide detailed
sessions on how small businesses can participate in the SBIR and STTR
programs.

Other conferences will be held in Seattle, Wash., Nov. 15-17, and in
Houston, Texas, April 26-28, 1994.  For conference details, call (407)
791-0720.

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