Missouri Technology Corporation (MTC) is currently accepting IDEA Fund applications for the TechLaunch and High-Tech Industrial Expansion programs.  MTC is also accepting applications for Missouri Building Entrepreneurial Capacity (“MOBEC”) grant program.  Applications for these programs are due on April 16^th by 5:00 p.m.   Visit the links below for additional information regarding  the current funding round.

• missouritechnology.com/commercialization-programs/missouri-techlaunch
• missouritechnology.com/commercialization-programs/high-tech-industrial-expansion-program
• missouritechnology.com/commercialization-programs/missouri-building-entrepreneurial-capacity

For questions, please contact Andrew Smolik at 573-526-2423 or andrew.smolik@ded.mo.gov.

For more information: Contact Jill Meyer, technology specialist at the UMKC Small Business & Technology Development Center, at 816-235-6072 or email: meyerjz@umkc.edu

Register online

Location: Kauffman Foundation, 4801 Rockhill Rd, Kansas City, MO

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The Missouri Technology Corporation recently announced the opening of funding rounds for the Seed Capital Co-Investment, Venture Capital Co-Investment and High-Tech Industrial Expansion programs. Application deadline is February 5.

• The Seed Capital Co-Investment Fund is designed to accelerate private investment in Missouri-based start-up companies and to increase the overall investment impact. Award amounts vary but will not exceed $500,000.
• The Venture Capital Co-Investment Fund is also designed to accelerate private investment in Missouri start-ups and increase overall impact; individual awards will not exceed $2,500,000.
• The High-Tech Industrial Expansion Fund supports industrial expansion efforts in Missouri that result in significant capital investment and high-paying jobs in the biotech and high-tech clusters. An emphasis is placed on those firms that can leverage Missouri’s rich agricultural history. Individual awards will not exceed $3,000,000.

For more information, visit missouritechnology.com

One of these departments is NASA.

Now NASA is seeking proposals for its SBIR and STTR programs to create the new technologies that will send the agency to Mars and beyond. The deadline for the two program solicitations is Nov. 29, and selections will be announced in late February 2013.

According to NASA, previous rounds of small business programs have resulted in components for air-traffic control systems, the International Space Station and the Curiosity rover now busy exploring the Red Planet.

The highly competitive SBIR and STTR programs are based on a three-phase award system:

Phase 1, a feasibility study to evaluate the scientific and technical merits of a proposal
Phase 2, which expands on the results of Phase 1
Phase 3, commercialization

For more information about SBIR and STTR solicitations, including how to apply, go to missouribusiness.net/fast/about_sbir.asp or contact your MO SBTDC technology development specialist (http://www.missouribusiness.net/sbtdc/centers.asp).

Check out the website for the incredible agenda and speaker bios at www.sba.gov/advocacy/7496/260591.  Highlights include:

• Keynote address by University of Washington President Michael K. Young
• Panels moderated by GeekWire.com’s Jonathan Sposato and Rebecca Lovell
• Successful startup Founders and CEOs sharing their experiences
• Government reps listening to suggestions and offering information on resources available to innovators
• Academics describing the impact of commercializing innovation and ways to amplify it
• Entrepreneurial accelerators showcasing what they do and why it works

You can watch the event live on September 19 at http://n50.onetotheworld.net/commerce04.

Help us get the conversation going in advance by going online, (at the same web address) and participate in our SuperChat.

Note: You must have flashplayer installed and JavaScript enabled. Also this event will be taking place from 9:00-5:00 Pacific Standard Time

The event is co-sponsored by the SBA’s Office of Advocacy, the Northwest Entrepreneur Network, the Seattle Center Foundation and GeekWire.com. Admission is free, but advance registration is required. For more information or to register, please visit www.sba.gov/advocacy/7496/260591.

Accepting Proposals – SBIR FY 2012.3
Deadline September 26, 2012

Here is a link to the solicitation schedule.

August 9, 2012 from 8:30 – 9:30 am

Join us on Thursday, August 9 for an information session about the Missouri Technology Corporation’s (MTC) IDEA Funds.

The info session will take place from 8:30 – 9:30 am at:

Kauffman Foundation Conference Center
Kansas City Room
4801 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO  64110

Andrew Smolik, Senior Associate for MTC, will explain the Missouri IDEA Fund programs and outline the application process.

The funding cycle for the first quarter of fiscal year 2013 is now open.

MTC will allocate up to $4.75 million to Missouri firms across three IDEA Fund programs in this funding cycle:

• Seed Capital Co-Investment Program
• Venture Capital Co-Investment Program
• High-Tech Industrial Expansion Program

Applications for each of these programs may be found on MTC’s website at http://www.missouritechnology.com/commercialization-programs.

The deadline to submit proposals for consideration is 5:00 p.m. CDT on Monday, August 20, 2012.

Please RSVP your attendance to Brande Stitt at: stittb@kcsourcelink.com or 816-235-6661

The programs are important to small businesses, each year providing more than $2 billion of R&D funding to innovative small business across a broad range of technologies.  After a long series of temporary reauthorizations, this reauthorization will last six years, much to the appreciation of all parties involved.

Passage of the reauthorization made it necessary for SBA to modify the governing body of rules for SBIR/STTR before the changes could actually take effect, which involves amending the SBIR and STTR policy directives that provide the specifics and guidance to federal agencies on how to administer the program.

We are pleased to report that on August 6th we will publish in The Federal Register the changes to the SBIR and STTR policy directives to implement the changes made by Congress in the reauthorization.  The pre-publication documents can be downloaded here:

Small Business Innovation Research Program Policy Directive (SBIR)

Small Business Technology Transfer Program Policy Directive (STTR)

The changes to the policy directives are significant. Key changes include:

• Increase in the set asides for the SBIR program, increasing over time from 2.5 percent of extramural R&D to 3.2 percent for SBIR, and from .3 percent to .45 percent for STTR
• Requirements for more streamlining and simplification of the program
• Caps on the amounts of individual awards
• More support for commercialization efforts and enhanced provisions for Phase III transitions
• Greater reporting from agencies to increase accountability in the program
• Stronger measures to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse in the program
• Administrative funding for initiatives at agencies to support all of the above efforts

These changes are effective with the publication of the policy directive, although SBA will continue to consider comments submitted by interested parties.  That makes the policy directives slightly different from the more standard rules and regulations associated with new laws or reauthorizations.  In most cases the process of rulemaking, governed by the Administrative Procedures Act, leads agencies to publish proposed rules and put them out for public comment.   After the public comment period, the executive branch makes changes, and then publishes a final set of rules.  The rules take effect after those final rules are published.

In the case of the policy directives, they take effect once they are published.  In the case of this reauthorization, the deadlines mandated by Congress did not allow time for public comment before the drafting of the directives began.  But public input is still very important, so SBA has decided to run a 60 day public comment period, which will end on October 5, 2012.

The critical advantage of this approach is that key provisions can help small businesses get started faster in their quest for funding under the programs.

To provide fair opportunity and transparency for the comment period, SBA plans to hold two webinars on the following dates:

Thursday, August 23, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. EDT

Wednesday, August 29, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. EDT

If you are interested in attending one of the webinars, please pre-register by sending an e-mail to technology@sba.gov. You must include the date of the webinar for which you wish to participate, the participant’s name, title, organization affiliation, address, telephone number, and email address. An email containing the call details will be sent out to those who registered prior to the webinar. Questions on the SBIR and STTR policy directives may be submitted to SBIRComments@sba.gov to be answered during the Q&A portion of the webinar.

The statute itself was over 100 pages long, and as a result, the required changes in the policy directives are long as well.  To make it easier for small businesses to digest, we’ve done a few things:

• A synopsis of Key Changes appears here http://www.sba.gov/about-sba-info/174308
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are posted here http://www.sba.gov/about-sba-info/174306 and will be updated as more questions are added from commenters.
• In the preambles to the policy directive notices, we attempted to give the context for the key changes, discuss alternatives considered, and provide further opportunity for feedback and improvement.

It is important to highlight that while the directives are effective at the time of publication, not everything is implemented immediately.  The summary of key changes contains an implementation calendar; however the exact timing of efforts may vary by individual agency.

One of SBA’s key roles going forward will be providing oversight on the implementation and reporting back to Congress and the public on the progress made.

(from: http://www.sba.gov/community/blogs/official-sba-news-and-views/open-business/sbir-and-sttr-policy-directives-are-finali )

(deadline: August 20, 2012)

The Missouri Technology Corporation’s (MTC) funding cycle for the first quarter of fiscal year 2013 is now open. In this cycle, MTC will allocate up to $4.75 million across the following three Missouri IDEA Fund programs:

• Seed Capital Co-Investment Program
• Venture Capital Co-Investment Program
• High-Tech Industrial Expansion Program

Applications for each of these programs may be found on MTC’s website.

Submission Deadline: Monday, August 20, 2012, 5:00 p.m.
Contact: Bill Anderson, Acting Executive Director, MTC
Phone: 573-522-2293 Email: william.anderson@ded.mo.gov