The Research Foundation for the State University of New York (SUNY) is among 22 recipients of grants that total $2 million through the Federal and State Technology (FAST) partnership program.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which administers the FAST program, announced the awards in a news release Thursday.
The SBA awarded the grants to state and local economic-development agencies, business-development centers, colleges, and universities to support programs for “innovative,” technology-driven, small businesses, the agency said.
The FAST Program is designed to stimulate economic development among small, technology businesses through federally funded innovation and research and development programs, such as the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.
The project and budget duration cover a 12-month period, the SBA said.
FAST provides more than $90,000 per award to pay for outreach and technical assistance. The program places particular emphasis on helping “socially and economically disadvantaged” firms compete in the SBA’s SBIR and STTR programs, the agency said.
A panel of SBIR program managers evaluated the proposals. The SBA, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the National Science Foundation jointly reviewed the panel’s recommendations and made awards based on proposal merit, according to the SBA.
The grant required varying levels of matching funds from each participating state and territory.
The FAST program is an “important tool” in the SBIR and STTR programs, Maria Contreras-Sweet, SBA administrator, said in the news release.
“The mission of the SBIR program is to support scientific excellence and technological innovation by investing federal research funds in small businesses. STTR focuses on partnerships between small businesses and America’s premier universities and nonprofit research institutions. It helps ensure that the world’s greatest academics and inventors have the resources they need to transform their ideas from the lab to the marketplace,” said Contreras-Sweet.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com