December 30, 2008
Wyoming SBIR/STTR
Initiative (WSSI) Newsletter
No. 13-08
(Past Newsletter Issues)
This Wyoming SBIR/STTR Initiative (WSSI) Newsletter is available in its entirety at http://www.uwyo.edu/sbir/newsletter/nwsltr_081230.htm.
It is published by the Wyoming SBIR/STTR Initiative (WSSI). Please visit our website at www.uwyo.edu/sbir for complete program information (including links to participating federal agencies, support agencies, conferences, archives of this newsletter, etc.) Contact WSSI@uwyo.edu to be added to or removed from the Distribution List for this newsletter.
SOLICITATION COUNTDOWN
WSSI Phase 0:
due 5:00 p.m., 1/1/09; 3 days – submit to
WSSI@uwyo.edu
DHS SBIR Contracts - due 1/5/09; 7 days
NOAA SBIR Contracts – due 1/14/09; 16 days
DoD SBIR 2009.1 Contracts - due 1/14/09; 16 days
DoEd IES Fast Track
– due 1/21/09; 23 days
NIST SBIR Grants
due 1/22/09; 24 days
NSF STTR Grants - due 2/25/09; 58 days
DoD STTR 2009.A Pre-Release 1/27/09
- due 3/25/09;
86 days
2009 SBIR/STTR SOLICITATION RELEASE SCHEDULE – All Agencies;
Courtesy of ZYN Systems at
www.zyn.com
CONTENT
1.0 Congratulations To Our December Phase 0 Award Winner
2.0
Senate’s
Kevin Wheeler Honored as 2008 SBIR Person of the Year!
3.0 USDA Publishes Latest ‘SBIR Impact’ Newsletter
4.0
NASVF NetNews
Reports on the State of the Economy
5.0
Business
Growth Data Argues Against Firm Recruitment
6.0
Starting Up
in a Slow-Down
7.0
University/Industry Ties Key to Promoting Innovation Eco-System
8.0
The
‘Economists’ Top Innovators
9.0
The Power of
Persistence
10.Acknowledgements and Publication Information
1.0 Congratulations to our December phase 0 award winners
Kennon
Products, Inc., Sheridan
Principal Investigator: Mark Weitz
Email:
mark@kennoncovers.com
Phase 0 Title: Lightweight Ballistic Hull Forms and Materials
Phase I Target: DoD (Navy)
Z4 Energy
Systems LLC,
Laramie
Principal Investigator:
Kevin Luke
email:
z4energy@earthlink.net
Phase 0 Title: An
Advanced Thermoplastic Composite Wind Turbine Blade
Phase II Target:
NSF
2.0 Senate’s Kevin Wheeler Honored as 2008 SBIR Person of the Year!
(the Congressional sbir program authorization expired on September 30, 2008 but remains temporarily in place until March 20, 2009 on the basis of a 'continuing resolution’. If The 111th congress fails to take action prior to March 20, the program will expire. KEVIN WHEELER WILL MAKE CERTAIN THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN!)
Rick Shindell’s SBIR GATEWAY has named Ms. Kevin Wheeler “2008 SBIR PERSON OF THE YEAR”. This much deserved and overdue honor is in recognition of her 10 years of tireless service to the SBIR client community, especially for her resolute determination to preserve the integrity of the SBIR program as originally conceived, in her position as Deputy Democratic Staff Director for the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship. She has worked diligently in support of Committee Chairman Senator John Kerry in his ongoing efforts to protect legitimate small businesses against attempted intrusions into SBIR the program by ‘big business’ interests. For more details and comments on this honor from those who are most knowledgeable about Kevin’s many contributions, go to http://www.zyn.com/sbir/articles/08poy.htm .
KEVIN - THANK YOU AND BEST WISHES FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUCCESS!
return to CONTENTS
3.0 USDA Publishes Latest ‘SBIR IMPACT’ Newsletter
‘SBIR Impact’ is a quarterly newsletter for
small businesses interested in the USDA-SBIR program and for institutions and
organizations that support the small business community and rural America. To
access the newsletter, go to
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/newsroom/newsletters/sbir/sbir_1208.html#program/update
4.0 NASVF NetNews Reports on the Tech-Based and Entrepreneurial Economic Environment
A recent edition of the NASVF (National Association of Seed & Venture Funds) on-line newsletter, NASVF NetNews, contained the following items relative to the current economic climate for entrepreneurs, start-ups and tech-based businesses in general.
Fallout from Credit Crunch Continues Impact on VC, Angels, Entrepreneurs
There
is one topic on the minds of all entrepreneurs right now: the impact of the
economy on their startups. The economy is the centerpiece of every networking
event and panel, and it even consumed the Q&A session after my last week on how
to raise VC. It’s inescapable:
Alley Insider
It is difficult for startup companies to raise venture capital at the best of
times. A venture capitalist might get emailed 5-10 pitches from startups each
day. Over the course of a year that adds up to 2,500-5,000 pitches. Of those
pitches, that venture capitalist might fund one or two companies. Not great odds
for a startup. Granted, some of the other startups may raise funding from other
venture capital firms, but even so, it’s a chancy proposition:
Lightspeed Venture Capital
Why IPOs Are in the ICU
Over
the last several years, the IPO market in the United States has practically
disappeared. While conventional wisdom may say the U.S. IPO market is going
through a cyclical downturn, exacerbated by the recent credit crisis, many are
beginning to share a view of a new and much darker reality: The market for
underwritten IPOs, given its current structure, is closed to most (80 percent)
of the companies that need it. In this white paper, Grant Thornton explores the
history of the IPO market, what led us to this crisis, and our ideas for a new,
opt-in stock market capable of reinvigorating the U.S. IPO market:
Grant Thornton
Biotech Firms Face
Cash Shortages
Almost
40% of small and midsize public biotechnology companies in the U.S. are in
danger of running out of cash within a year and government help is needed to
encourage investment, industry leaders say. "We're at the most difficult time in
the history of our industry," says James Greenwood, chief executive of the
Biotechnology Industry Organization:
Wisconsin Technology Council
Will Boise's Micron Fabs Fade Away?
Since Micron Technology Inc. announced more layoffs in October, some analysts have suggested that Idaho's largest private employer isn't finished cutting either jobs or computer-chip production in Boise. The company's recent strategic decisions have fueled that belief. Days after Micron announced that it would shut its flash-memory production line in Boise and end 1,500 more Treasure Valley jobs, Micron bought a stake in a Taiwanese manufacturer of dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, Micron's principal product:
Idaho Statesman
5.0 Business Growth Data Argues Against Firm Recruitment (NDE-news)
Earlier this year, NDE-news highlighted the Edward
Lowe Foundation’s business data site:
www.youreconomy.org When first unveiled, this free research tool
could help regions track the sectoral composition of local businesses. Recently,
the Lowe Foundation updated the site so it now contains critical information on
business growth – along with the resulting impact on jobs. While the figures
vary from region to region, they suggest that entrepreneur-centric policies to
help existing firms grow fast are more effective than traditional firm
recruitment models.
Check how many fast growing companies are located in
your state, your region, or your county.
6.0 Starting Up in a Slowdow (NASVF NetNews)
Landing venture
capital is tough for startups, even in a good economy. But given the ongoing
financial crisis, how hard is it for early-stage companies to get funded right
now? Venture capitalists say entrepreneurs face a much higher bar than in recent
years. They liken the downturn to a period of natural selection, when weak
businesses will fail but strong ones will prosper. New companies that prove
themselves now, they say, are better positioned to thrive when the economy
recovers:
Business Week
7.0 University-Industry Ties Key to Promoting ‘Innovation Ecosystem’ (NDE-news)
A new report by the President’s
Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) points to strengthening
ties between universities and industry as the key to promoting an “innovation
ecosystem” in the US. The report, University-Private Sector Research
Partnerships in the Innovation Ecosystem, calls for continued Federal government
support of basic research while long-term economic and regulatory changes are
made to help tap into increasing research capacity in university labs. Among the
recommendations called for: updating and enhancing the R&D tax credit;
developing guidance on intellectual property and technology-transfer practices;
evaluating the impact and scalability of open innovation models; and, developing
tools and metrics to guide policies and incentive structures. The Council
submitted its report to the current administration and noted that a document is
being prepared for the transition team of President-elect Barack Obama.
Download University-Private Sector Research Partnerships in the Innovation
Ecosystem, by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
8.0 The Economist’s Top Innovators (NDE-news)
The Economist has just picked its top innovators for 2008. This year’s list honors leaders in eight fields who are recognized for important contributions to innovation. This year’s winners are:
· Bio-Science: Martin Evans, for his work in stem cell research
· Business Process: Jimmy Wales and Wikipedia
· Computing: Matti Makkonen, for his role in the invention of text messaging
· Consumer Products & Services: Steve Chen and Chad Hurley of YouTube
· Energy and the Environment: Arthur Rosenfeld, for his work in promotion of energy efficiency
· No Boundaries (Open Category): Sumio Iijima, for the discovery of carbon nanotubes
· Social Innovation: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
· Corporate Innovation: Nokia
Learn more about The Economist’s top innovators for 20089.0 The Power of Persistence (NDE-news)
If you want to be good at something, you need to practice. A new Harvard
Business School working paper shows that this sensible advice also applies to
entrepreneurs. The study compared entrepreneurs with a successful track record
with first time entrepreneurs and those who had failed in the past. Not
surprisingly, the entrepreneurs with past success were more likely to succeed
with subsequent ventures. Their success derives from two factors: their own
skills, especially in terms of market timing skills, and the perception of those
skills by customers and investors. Investors who recognize an entrepreneur’s
market timing skills are more likely to provide outside funding, and this
funding helps contribute to more successful company outcomes. In effect, success
begets success.
To access the 2008 Harvard Business School Working Paper, “Performance
Persistence in Entrepreneurship,” by Paul Gompers, Anna Kovner, Josh Lerner, and
David Scharfstein, visit
http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-028.pdf
10.0 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND PUBLICATION INFORMATION
TO BE ADDED
TO OR REMOVED FROM THE DISTRIBUTION LIST FOR THIS NEWSLETTER, SEND NAME,
ADDRESS, PHONE NUMBER, AND EMAIL ADDRESS TO WSSI@uwyo.edu
This newsletter is published monthly as part of the Wyoming SBIR/STTR Initiative
(WSSI). The mission of the Initiative is to increase the number of federal Small
Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer
(STTR) Program awards to Wyoming. The Wyoming Business Council (WBC) funds the
initiative which is administered by the University of Wyoming Research Office.
Please contact Gene Watson ewatson@wyoming.com with your comments.
END