SBIR/STTR Program Phase I Proposal Writing Workshop
Date: December 9, 2015 7:30am-5pm
Location: UMass Medical School, Albert Sherman Center, Multi-purpose Room; AS1-2130 East, 55 Lake Ave North Worcester, MA 01655 Directions
The workshop is only for MATTO members and faculty, researchers and students at MATTO institutions. The applicants must be developing a technology, for which they plan to apply for SBIR/STTR funding in the next six months. The number of attendees is limited to 35 people.
Please apply to attend at the link below. Please note that you will be asked to give us a few details about your technology. You will be notified if your application to attend is accepted.
Apply to Attend
The Workshop description:
- The workshop will be led by Sharon Ballard, President/CEO, EnableVentures, Inc.
- Lunch Speaker: Nicole A. Palmer, Partner, Lando&Anastasi, LLP
This eight-hour workshop targets early-stage, first-time, or unsuccessful writers of SBIR Program Phase I proposals. The workshop covers all agencies. The SBIR Program can support business and product strategies with funding from the federal government, as an alternative to or in coordination with other forms of business financing. This workshop assumes participants have a basic understanding of the SBIR and STTR Programs. (Free on-line tutorials are available for basic information; it is ideal if registrants take these in advance of the workshop.)
The training will stress the importance of partnering early, even at the Phase I stage, with tool that aid entrepreneurs to focus on commercialization. The course will provide guidance in researching government organizations, topics, financial and administrative requirements, and Phase I proposal writing. As part of the proposal writing work, the workshop will offer tips for approaching and structuring working arrangements with large corporations on government contracts. Tools, techniques, and examples of administrative, financial and project management aids will be provided to ease doing business with the government, as well as sources of additional aids.
Proposal outlines from various agencies will be used and each major proposal section will be considered in detail, with methods and techniques for covering each section. The majority of this workshop will focus on two areas key to winning: the work plan (and how one integrates knowledge of the state of the art with the work plan, and requirements unique to some agencies, like NIH) and the commercialization plan. The instructor will explore with workshop participants some specific steps to attract commercialization partners, even at the Phase I stage of the SBIR Program. Research
The Workshop Agenda:
7:30 – 8:00am Arrivals, continental breakfast
8:00 – 8:10am Welcome, announcements, introductions
8:10 – 8:30am Requirements & Evaluation Factors, Proposal Planning Techniques
8:30 – 9:00am Part I – Research/Work Plan: Proposal Content, Tips and Techniques, Section by Section – lecture and in-class exercises
9:00 – 9:30am Significance, Specific Aims or Technical Objectives
9:30 – Noon Research/Work Plans (and supporting Science & Technology Plans); Related Work, Key Personnel, Facilities and Equipment, Consultants, Subcontractors, Prior & Pending Support
10:10 – 10:30am Break
Noon – 1:30pm Working Lunch and Break: Nicole A. Palmer, Partner, Lando&Anastasi, LLP. Part II – Commercialization Plan: Proposal Content, Tips and Techniques, Section by Section, including IP Considerations lecture and in-class exercises
1:30 – 3:00pm Commercialization Strategies & Plans, Strategic Alliances, Project Summaries
3:00 – 3:15pm Break
3:15 – 4:45pm Part III – Financial Management & Accounting: lecture and in-class exercises (Focus: Cost Proposals, Indirect Rates, Audits, Performance and Project Management and Reporting, Forms
4:45 – 5:00pm Wrap-Up: Questions and Answers, Certificates presented
Speaker Bio
Sharon Ballard
Mrs. Ballard is president/CEO of EnableVentures, Inc., and previously a founder and former President/CEO of Reticular Systems, Inc., a privately held California corporation (1989). Reticular Systems developed intelligent agent-based patented computer hardware and software products that solve complex, time-critical problems. Under her leadership, Reticular won over 30 SBIR Program awards (Phase I, Phase II and Phase III commercialization efforts). Reticular spun out new ventures that were purchased by venture-backed companies. Reticular products have been sold to thousands of customers globally (www.agentbuilder.com).
Prior to founding Reticular Systems, Mrs. Ballard was Director of Business Development for Titan Corporation, a NYSE company. She was Business Development Manager with Motorola, Inc., responsible for both technology and systems sales averaging $100M annually for the satellite communications business unit. Mrs. Ballard was an Engineering Manager then Sales Manager with LINKABIT Corporation, where she started as the 18th fulltime employee. The founders of LINKABIT later founded QUALCOMM Inc. When she left LINKABIT to join Motorola 8 years later, LINKABIT was over 600 employees.
Ballard was the first Management Fellow for University of California, San Diego (UCSD) CONNECT Springboard Program. She mentored over 60 early-stage companies (about half had technologies and products in life sciences); and dozens of high-technology ventures in the San Diego Technology Incubator. Since 2000 she has served annual fellowships with Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at University of Strathclyde, Glasgow; and as instructor/coach for Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences, University of Jyväskylä and Jyväskylä Innovation, University of Oulu and Oulu Wellness Institute, and Tampere-based Ubiquitous Computing Cluster sponsored Supercoach® Entrepreneurial Training and establishment of the Finnish Supercoach®Launch Pad Program, modeled after CONNECT’s Springboard Program. Supercoach® Entrepreneurial Training programs currently reach over 60 countries and over 300 US universities and colleges. She is a frequent judge for student business plan competitions nationally, and coaches presenters for several investment conferences. Workshop clients include Arizona State University, UMass Boston, UMass Amherst, University of Minnesota, Stony Brook University, University of Arkansas Medical Sciences, University of Kentucky-Lexington and Baylor University.
In 2003, she co-founded Arizona State University’s Technopolis Program, modeled after UCSD CONNECT. Since 2003, she has been a consultant for scores of grant awards from the Arizona Department of Commerce to assist clients with high risk/high payoff research and development proposals for SBIR Program funding. She is a frequent instructor and coach for AccelTech, NASA Commercialization Center at Cal Poly Pomona, delivering SBIR Program workshops and the first ever Technology Roadmap Planning Course for Entrepreneurs.
Ballard’s SBIR/STTR Program Proposal Writing Workshops draw nationally; her most recent return on investment is 200:1 (US$). Under competitive bid, she was one of two instructor teams selected to pilot NCIIA’s 4-day Invention to Venture (AI2V) Workshops, based on Supercoach® Entrepreneurial Training. Since 2006, she has delivered dozens of NCIIA AI2V 4-day workshops, including a two-day version for MIT/Lemelson Foundation’s InvenTeams Program. She is a certified FastTrac® facilitator, delivering TechVentures™ Programs in under sponsorship of University of Arkansas-Little Rock, as well as a variety of SBIR workshops.
She is the author of Introduction to the SBIR/STTR Program (Kindle, iBook and print forms) and is co-writing a book with collaborator Levie entitled Launching Technology Startups: Practical Tools and Techniques for First-Time Entrepreneurs. This new book is based on her Supercoach® Entrepreneurial Training courses originally developed under partial sponsorship from Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship. She has written and contributed to dozens of trade and peer-reviewed journals.
Nicole Palmer
Ms. Nicole Palmer is a partner at Lando & Anastasi, LLP, a boutique intellectual property law firm located in the heart of Kendall Square. She studied chemical engineering at MIT prior to pursuing law school. Nicole works with clients of all sizes to leverage their intellectual assets through strategic patent portfolio development and management with a focus on their business goals. She prosecutes patent applications domestically and abroad in a wide range of technologies. Nicole also has experience with transactional work as well as trademark clearance and protection. Nicole handles intellectual property issues in a variety of industries, including those relating to chemical process control, water and waste treatment, energy and “green” technologies, specialty materials and coatings, molecular profiling, IT infrastructure, medical devices, therapeutics, and consumer products. She has represented clients through rounds of due diligence, led post-grant review proceedings, prepared non-infringement and freedom to operate opinions, and has effectively represented clients in appeals before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.