Indiana Small Business Owners to Learn About Grant Programs

Indiana small business owners will have an opportunity to learn from national experts how to better compete for federal innovation and technology dollars at the Indiana SBIR/STTR Conference April 14 and 15.

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation will host the conference, held at the Downtown Indianapolis Hyatt Regency, to teach business owners about the federal government's Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer grant programs aimed at assisting small businesses transform technologies into commercial ventures.

"This conference will allow participants a unique opportunity to learn not only from their peers, but also industry experts who know the anatomy of award-winning proposals," said Brooke Pyne, the director of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation's Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology initiative. "We anticipate that efforts like this will further the IEDC mission to aggressively focus on increasing both the number and quality of SBIR/STTR grant applicants and, in turn, the number of federal research and development grants awarded in Indiana."

Participants will learn, from national experts and past Indiana SBIR/STTR awardees, about grant proposal writing, intellectual property protection and commercialization strategy, among other topics. National SBIR/STTR directors from several of the federal awarding agencies will also be available for one-on-one workshops with participants by appointment.

"The SBIR/STTR programs are the most important source of seed capital for small and start up companies that want to produce new products and services based on innovation and technology," said Jim Greenwood, national SBIR consultant and president of the Florida-based Greenwood Consulting Group. "This conference will provide attendees with valuable information on submitting competitive proposals for federal funding. It is not enough to have a good idea--a successful applicant must know how to present that idea effectively to give it the greatest chance of securing SBIR/STTR funding."

The conference costs $90 for participants who register before March 13 and $110 for anyone registering after that date. Registration information, special room rates, course descriptions, speaker bios and an event agenda are available at www.in.gov/iedc/361.htm

The IEDC's SBIR Program Office provides a portfolio of grant procurement assistance and offers a dollar-for-dollar match up to $100,000 to companies that are successful in obtaining SBIR/STTR funding. To date, the Indiana program office has assisted more than 120 companies in securing funding from the federal government's SBIR/STTR program.