Business Oregon, the state’s economic development agency, is starting a $400,000 grant program to help small businesses fund research and development of new, innovative products. The fund will support Oregon small businesses that want to earn a share of the $2.5 billion awarded annually in highly competitive federal research grants. Oregon currently ranks in the middle tier among states in capturing federal innovation grants for small businesses. “For sustainable economic growth in both urban and rural Oregon, we must continually look for ways to give small business and entrepreneurs a leg-up,” said Governor Kate Brown. “Leveraging state grant funds to access federal funds fosters innovation that not only brings great ideas to life, it creates more opportunities to grow Oregon business statewide.” The federal grant programs – known as Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer, or SBIR/STTR — are designed to encourage small companies and research universities to pursue risky but rewarding research that helps bring new ideas to market and maintains the United States’ position as the global leader in innovation. iRobot, Qualcomm and Symantec are examples of companies that grew out of the SBIR/STTR program. “Innovation grows jobs,” said Sean Robbins, Business Oregon’s director. “We need to do more to nurture early-stage startups. We created this program to help Oregon small businesses earn a bigger share of federal research dollars to transform ideas on a white board into products sold around the globe.” At Business Oregon, our mission is to grow Oregon jobs, companies and communities. That work starts with helping entrepreneurs and existing Oregon businesses grow here at home. The SBIR/STTR fund is part of Business Oregon’s strategy to support innovation and entrepreneurship.
