A large majority of SBIR awardees have excellent skills
in science and engineering research but lack experience in product
development, financing business growth, raising venture capital, and
marketing. In accordance with one
of the statutory program purposes of increasing private sector
commercialization of innovations derived from Federal R&D, the Department
provides funding for commercialization assistance.
The SBIR law allows each agency to use a portion of the SBIR set-aside
funds for discretionary technical assistance like commercialization.
Companies participate on a limited basis in DOE’s commercialization
assistance services at no cost and the Department’s participating research
programs benefit from early introduction of mission-related technology into
the marketplace.
Products
Commercialization Opportunity Forum Program (conducted by
Dawnbreaker, Inc.)
The program takes eight months to complete and includes:
1) Kickoff Meeting: Sixty
to seventy SBIR/STTR awardees are invited to attend a kickoff meeting
2) Business Plan Development:
For about four months, the SBIR participants work individually with one
of our contractor's staff members to develop a business plan.
A series of interim reports are produced, culminating in a draft
business plan. Finally, the DOE
selects about 30 participants to present at the Opportunity Forum.
3) Advanced Commercialization Workshop: These remaining
participants meet for an intensive two-day weekend workshop which includes
one-on-one sessions with our contractor's staff.
The output of the workshop includes improvements to the business plan
and instructions for further refinements.
4) Business Plan Refinement and Preparation of
Presentation Materials: For the
next couple months, companies work individually with our contractor staff to
refine business plans and prepare presentations for the Forum.
5) Opportunity Forum: The
Commercialization Opportunity Forum, which takes place over two days in a
Washington
area hotel, is designed to facilitate interaction between technology
entrepreneurs, potential strategic allies, and investors through a combination
of formal presentations and informal networking opportunities.
Trailblazer™ (Initiated early in Phase I to support Phase II application)*
The
Trailblazer™ develops market data and participation required for concurrent
engineering-based product or service development.
Both literature searches and interviews are conducted.
The program runs six weeks and it helps businesses:
1) identify major
market niches for commercialization;
2) determine
key requirements and traits for market-viable products or services;
3) develop
a value for the technology that gives it a competitive advantage; and
4) identify
feasible vehicles for commercialization and map out a path into the market.
Virtual
Deal Simulator™ (Initiated early in Phase II)*
The Virtual Deal Simulator™ (VDS™) uses
computer-based templates to explore commercialization deals by establishing a
sequence of tasks for: 1) the completion of R&D; 2) transitioning the
technology development into production; and 3) transitioning the technology
product into the market. VDS™ also identifies critical path tasks and
milestones for commercialization. The
program helps to identify associated costs, required resources, outputs, and
metrics for success, duration, and intellectual property concerns for each
task, which can be used to track and evaluate post-deal progress. The VDS™
can also be used to identify potential technology, knowledge, and capability
gaps in product development and in transitioning into the market and make
suggestions for risk reduction. The
duration of this program is six weeks.
Technology
Niche Analysis™ (Initiated mid-Phase II to identify Phase III partners)*
The Technology Niche Analysis™ (TNA™) assesses potential applications for
a technology. Both literature
searches and interviews are conducted. For
each viable application, TNA™ identifies:
1) the needs and
concerns of end-users which drive the competitive opening;
2) competing
technology and products;
3) the competitive
advantage of the technology and market drivers;
4) key standards,
regulations, and certifications influencing buyer acceptance;
5) potential
customers, licensees, investors, or other commercialization partners (targets
as specified by participant preferences); and,
6) a commercialization
strategy, together with tasking and a schedule for implementation of the
strategy and design suggestions for the product.
Targets
are contacted to ensure they are viable leads and to collect important
information for follow-up deal-making. Points
of contact are included. This
program lasts for six weeks.
* These products are provided by Foresight Science and Technology,
Inc.
Point of Contact: Larry James (larry.james@science.doe.gov)
