SBIR Program a Kick-Start for Tech Entrepreneurs
From The New York Times:
"For high-technology entrepreneurs, there is another source of financing that can be as generous as it is little known: grants from the federal government's Small Business Innovative Research Program.
The biggest fund, by far, is run by the Defense Department, which parcels out some $1 billion a year to independent companies with fewer than 500 employees. The goal is to stimulate research into novel technologies that can benefit military operations, but with a twist. The department is not paying for exclusivity for the ideas it finances; rather, it wants those ideas to go commercial as quickly as possible to assure a stream of reliable and cost-effective suppliers."
