SYRACUSE — The new structure of CenterState CEO’s Grants for Growth program should help the initiative become more sustainable and broaden its reach, organizers say.
The program, which provides funding for applied research projects between universities and businesses, began in 2007. It received two rounds of $1 million in state funding.
CenterState CEO announced a third round, this time for $2 million, on Nov. 1.
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Earlier rounds of grants offered up to $75,000 in matching funds for applied-research projects between colleges and companies. Starting with the program’s current round, its 10th, businesses will have two grant options.
Early-stage firms can apply for a $25,000 grant to support work on a proof of concept. Later-stage companies can apply for $150,000 to help bring their concepts to the marketplace.
The larger grants will be in the form of convertible debt. The hope is that as companies progress, they’ll pay the money back and CenterState will then be able to use it to fund more grants, says Mitchell Patterson, director of business retention and expansion and managing director for the emerging-business portfolio at CenterState CEO.
State Sen. John DeFrancisco (R–Syracuse) has been a major supporter of the program and has secured its funding, Patterson says, but there’s no guarantee the state money will be available indefinitely in the facing of ongoing budget pressures.
Organizers also decided on the new structure because many companies applying for earlier rounds of Grants for Growth didn’t need the full $75,000 available. Often, they simply required $15,000 or $20,000 to do some initial testing on a concept, Patterson says.
The smaller new grants are aimed at those firms.
Other companies were much farther along and needed something beyond $75,000. The larger new grants are meant to help businesses that are past the proof-of-concept stage and probably already have working prototypes, Patterson explains.
All of the projects will continue to involve the areas colleges and universities, says Elle Hanna, director of marketing at CenterState CEO. The region’s higher education institutions are a valuable resource for area businesses, she notes.
Grants for Growth helps firms tap into the expertise available on Central New York’s campuses, she says.
The earlier Grants for Growth funding provided 35 grants, which led to 52 new patents and 97 jobs with an annual payroll of $6.5 million at participating companies, according to CenterState CEO.
Patterson says CenterState CEO will probably award four to six smaller grants a year and nine or 10 of the larger awards over a three to four-year period. By that point, he adds, the hope is that some of the companies that received larger awards will have started paying off their debt to fund future grants.
Businesses can apply for Grants for Growth at www.thetechgarden.com. The deadline for the current round is Feb. 1 with awards likely to take place in March.
Patterson says he’s received about 40 inquiries on the program’s current round so far. That would more than double the most applications CenterState has received this early in a Grants for Growth round.
He says he’s also talking with area colleges to develop relationships that could lead to even more applications in the future.
Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com
