I’ve found grant and agency conferences to be extremely useful, and I’m penciling this one into my spring schedule because so many of my customers could benefit from NSF grants, and their technologies are applicable to NSF priorities.  I recently had my first win with an NSF SBIR with one of my customers, and so far they have been an excellent agency to work with.

For more information on the NSF conference and to be notified when the registration goes live, please visit the NSF Grants Conference website.

There are several reasons why it’s valuble to attend an SBIR conference:

1. Basic Information – Many of the sessions will provide you with general information about the SBIR program, how to determine if your company and technology ideas qualify, and how you can apply.
2. Agency Personnel – Many SBIR agency personnel attend the meetings.  At the regional NIH conference I just attended, Dr. Michael Portnoy, head of NIH SBIR was a speaker and was conducting one-on-one meetings.
3. Non-Technical Expertise – While many engineers who develop SBIR proposal concepts are experts in their technical field, they may not be experts in accounting, grant management, or commercialization.  Many conferences have sessions or tracks dedicated to these areas, and the conferences are a great place to network and meet experts who can assist you.
4. Potential Teaming Partners – There are a lot of technical personnel that attend SBIR conferences, and there may be someone who exactly complements your SBIR team.  SBIR conferences are a great opportunity to find consultants and subject matter experts to fill in gaps in your own expertise.

As a proposal consultant, I attend these conferences to improve my own education and to network with potential clients and partners.  I’ve generated relationships with accountants such as Jameson and Company, CPA, who are experts in federal grant and contract accounting.  I can refer these experts to my own clients so that they make the most of their SBIR programs.

I’ll be sharing more about this specific conference, but I wanted to stress up front how valuable these conferences are for anyone involved in the SBIR program, and I’d highly recommend attending the conferences most relevant to your interests.

Key dates:

July 28, 2011 – Solicitation is released.  Topic Authors are available for questions.

August 29, 2011 – DoD begins accepting proposals.  Topic Authors are no longer available for questions.

September 28, 2011, 6AM EDT – Deadline for receipt of proposals

Alternatively, if you’re interested in the STTR program, solicitation 2011.B has been released, including topics from the Air Force, MDA, and OSD-ASD.

Remember that DoD provides very specific topics and your solution must address the concerns included in the topic description.  It is certainly worth your time to contact the Topic Author as early as possible during the period where questions are open to ensure you get a response.  The Topic Author can help you decide whether your technology/solution is applicable to the topic.

If you have any questions about the SBIR process, please email me, Sue Kristoff, at susan@kristoffgroup.com.  I can help you navigate the SBIR submission process from start to finish, avoid common pitfalls, and improve your probability of proposal success.

1.Evaluate your technology.  Is your idea truly innovative?  Does it fit the requirements for a Phase I research effort?  If you’re at the point of clinical trials, then you’re beyond the scope of a Phase I program.

2. Evaluate your team.  Do you have personnel on staff or as consultants to help you accomplish everything you want to propose?  Your team is arguably the second most important thing in your proposal after your concept, since you have to prove that you have the expertise to do what you propose.

3.  Email the point of contact at the NIH institute that is relevant to your technology.  In the Omnibus SBIR solicitation, technical contacts for each institute within NIH are listed.  Identify the institute(s) that is most relevant to you, and send them an email introducing you and your technology.  Ask for their feedback about how your ideas mesh with the institute’s priorities.  They’ll let you know what they think, and you’ll get valuable feedback to improve your proposal.