Demonstrate research
Recently, I spoke with the US Department of Transportation (DOT) SBIR Program director. As we’ve had limited success with the SBIR program, I was quizzing him on DOT’s approach and how we could improve our hit rate. Before talking about the specifics of DOT’s SBIR, he took me out of the SBIR program to discuss other funding sources within DOT and to make an important point, which, I feel, is extremely useful to inventors in all domains.
State by state, transportation is managed by airports, the State DOT, and Transit Properties. For us, these are the Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose airports, Caltrans, and BART. Each of these (the airports are best thought of as small, independent, city-like entities) have a small business specialist, and some of them must award a fraction of all their contracts to small businesses. Access is gained by registering with the SB specialist, helping them understand your capabilities, and asking for introductions to people with specific problems. Often, the decision of just one person can award a contract — something I know will be a breath of fresh air to veterans of the glacially slow SBIR program. There is a catch: All three types of organizations draw money from trust funds and are prohibited from investing in research. However, they can invest in demonstrations of new and innovative concepts.
The distinction may seem trivial to an inventor, but to those around us, it’s the difference between getting a tangible solution and getting a report with a request for more money. The work we do may be the same whether we call it research or demonstration, but there are some subtleties of language that can make all the difference in taking an idea to the next step.