MBDA Joins SBIR Road Tour in September

By Julius Valentine Maina, J.D. , Policy & Inclusive Innovation Specialist

The Minority Business Development Agency is pleased to announce we will join the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Road Tour as it travels through California and Hawaii. The Agency and our national network of more than 40 MBDA Business Centers are excited to support the greater the Tour mission of increasing program participation by minority businesses and entrepreneurs.

The SBIR programs provide $2.5 billion in funding each year to small, advanced technology firms to spur new technological discovery and commercialization. Every SBIR Road Tour stop represents a coveted opportunity for business owners to meet directly with federal and state program managers who seed a wide spectrum of innovative ideas while learning about your state sponsored innovation support infrastructure.

Other agenda highlights include:

• Learning how to access local and state resources available to innovators, researchers, and technology entrepreneurs
• An overview of SBIR agencies and funding priorities
• Engaging panel sessions on:
  • Seed funding your Idea through SBIR
  • Inside the Head of an Evaluator: Lessons Learned and Common Mistakes
  • Technology Alignment, Opportunities, and Funding from the Warfighter (Defense focused)

Visit us at one of the 5 SBIR Road Tour stops:

• San Diego – Monday, September 11
• Irvine – Tuesday, September 12
• Los Angeles – Wednesday, September 13
• Mountain View @ NASA-Ames – Thursday, September 14 (NOW OPEN to accommodate Sept 15 Berkeley overflow)
• Berkeley – Friday, September 15
• Honolulu, HI – Monday, September 18

If you’re an innovator, entrepreneur, researcher, or small technology firm, don’t miss this opportunity.

Register Today to reserve your one-on-one meeting with SBIR/STTR Program Managers from:

• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce - National Institute of Standards and Technology
• Department of Commerce - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• Department of Defense - Air Force
• Department of Defense - Missile Defense Agency
• Department of Defense - Navy
• Department of Defense - Office of Small Business Programs SBIR
• Department of Defense - Special Operations Command
• Department of Energy
• Department of Health and Human Services - National Institutes of Health
• Department of Homeland Security
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• National Science Foundation
• The United States Patent and Trademark Office

Note: In 2015, MBDA formed a partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Federal Laboratory Consortium to spur encourage and support innovation within the minority business community. The partnership leverages the vast amount of research and development expertise of over 300 federal laboratories. This partnership was followed by the launch of MBDA’s Inclusive Innovation Initiative, with a focus on increasing the participation of minority business enterprises (MBEs) and minority-serving institutions in the federal laboratory network.