BACKGROUND
THE
USDA COMMERCIALIZATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (USDA-CAP)
Overview
- Activities
- Participation Cost -
Enrollment
- Questions
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BACKGROUND
The
USDA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program provides grants to
qualified small business firms to support innovative research projects that
address important problems facing American agriculture or rural America. The
USDA SBIR program is carried out in three separate phases. Small businesses
initially apply to an eight month Phase I grant to conduct a technical feasibility
study. If Phase I is completed successfully, the small businesses can apply
for a two year Phase II grant to continue the research effort. Phase III is
the commercialization phase where the small businesses use non-SBIR funds
to commercialize the product, process, technology, or service developed during
Phases I and II.
THE
USDA COMMERCIALIZATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (USDA-CAP)
Overview:
In
support of its SBIR Phase II program, USDA aimed to facilitate the transition
of developed technologies, processes, and/or services into the commercial
marketplace to further the economic goals of the USDA SBIR grantees and provided
solutions to some of the agricultural/rural problems USDA addresses. With
this intention in mind, USDA has teamed with Larta Institute, a premier technology
commercialization assistance organization, to develop and deliver a pilot
program designed to assist USDA's SBIR Phase II awardees in the commercialization
of their technologies, processes and/or services.
The
program, called USDA-CAP, began in January 2008 and was comprised of training
seminars, individual mentoring/coaching sessions, exposure to potential partners/investors
networks and the development of a brief commercialization plan/roadmap which
participating companies may adopt at the conclusion of the program. This roadmap
was customized for each USDA-CAP participant and included clear commercialization
objectives for the company, and the steps it needed to take to achieve those
objectives.
The
USDA-CAP was conducted over five months and was available at no cost, only
to current USDA SBIR Phase II Awardees.
Activities:
This commercialization assistance program was comprised of 4 modules:
1. Outreach & Enrollment:
- USDA contacted all SBIR Phase II awardees via e-mail and made them aware
of the opportunity to participate in this program.
- SBIR Phase II awardees that expressed their interest in participating in
the program were asked to submit an enrollment form through an on-line system.
All information submitted by the awardees remained strictly confidential and
was used only with the purpose of gathering relevant information that will
help Larta assess each company's needs.
- The deadline
to enroll was December 21, 2007.
- Once all of the awardees' enrollment forms were collected, Larta contacted
those companies for which clarifications and/or more information was required.
We then provide all enrolled participants with additional, more specific details
on the program.
2. Commercialization Training Workshop (CTW):
The Commercialization Training Workshop (CTW) was a 2-day event that took
place on January 29-30, 2007 at USDA's facilities in D.C. At the CTW, participants
interacted with industry and subject-matter experts on issues and practices
relevant to business. Just as important, participants also met one-on-one
with an assigned mentor for at least 2-hours to initiate the commercialization
strategy assessment process and product. Attendance and participation at the
CTW was mandatory for all enrollees.
The 2-day
workshop began on Jan. 29 at 7:30AM and ended on Jan. 30 at 6:30PM.
The workshop
was held at the USDA ERS facility located at 1800 M Street, NW, Washington
DC, 20036.
3. Commercialization Roadmap Development
After the
CTW, participating companies had personalized, mostly remote, mentoring/coaching
sessions with their assigned mentor. Together, they identified the company's
commercialization goals and the steps to be taken to achieve them. Each mentor
spent approximately 4 hours in total with each company after the CTW.
Once the personalized
coaching sessions were over, mentors prepared a final commercialization roadmap
report for each company outlining specific steps the company needs to take
en rout to commercializing the USDA-SBIR funded technology, process and/or
service. The report was revised, as appropriate, and agreed upon by the company
and then submitted to USDA.
4. Monitoring/Tracking
Larta Institute
contacted participating companies a few months after the completion of the
program and followed up on their commercialization progress as well as soliciting
feedback on the usefulness of the commercialization roadmap developed for
them through the USDA-CAP.
Participation Cost:
The program
was free to participants; there were no registration, or participation fees.
Participants were expected, however, to invest their time to participate in
the mentorship process and commercialization roadmap development, and were
expected to attend the Commercialization Training Workshop on January 29-30
in Washington D.C. Participants were also expected to cover travel cost to
attend the CTW.
NOTE:
Participants were allowed to use funds from their USDA SBIR Phase II grant
to participate in the CTW.
Questions?
To contact the USDA-CAP, please email
cpachon@larta.org
or call Constanza Pachon directly at 213-538-1451.