Since its inception in 1953, the U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA or Agency) has served to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small businesses. While SBA is best known for its financial support of small businesses through its many lending programs, the Agency also plays a critical role in providing funding to organizations that deliver technical assistance in the form of counseling and training to small business concerns and nascent entrepreneurs in order to promote growth, expansion, innovation, increased productivity, and management improvement.
The mission of SBA’s Small Business Innovation Research and Technology Transfer Office (SBIRTT), which bears responsibility for administering the FAST program, is to strengthen the technological competitiveness of small businesses across the country through coordination and oversight of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. The primary mission of the FAST program is to help underrepresented entrepreneurs successfully compete for SBIR/STTR awards.
The FAST program provides one-year funding to organizations to execute state-based programs, which may also collaborate regionally, that increase the number of SBIR/STTR proposals leading to an increase in the number of SBIR/STTR awards from women, socially/economically disadvantaged individuals, and small businesses in underrepresented areas - typically rural states.
An Applicant may submit only one proposal in response to this Announcement. Any additional applications from the same organization will automatically be rejected without being evaluated. Interested applicants from within Duke should contact fundopps@duke.edu as early as possible.
Deadline: June 20, 2024
In order to be eligible for this funding opportunity an Applicant must:
- Be a public or private entity, organization, or individual that intends to use funding awarded under this Announcement to provide outreach, financial support, and/or technical assistance to next generation R&D-focused small businesses in order to increase SBIR/STTR proposals and awards; and
- Be endorsed by the appropriate state governor or their authorized designee as the only approved applicant from that state.