SBA Awards $9M in Grants to 49 Orgs for Access to Development Funding and Innovative Research | Trade and Industry Development

SBA Awards $9M in Grants to 49 Orgs for Access to Development Funding and Innovative Research

Oct 14, 2024

Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice in President Biden’s Cabinet for America’s more than 34 million small businesses, announced that the SBA has issued 49 grants up to $200,000 each to organizations supporting startups through specialized training, mentoring, and technical assistance under the Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program.

“FAST funding, which fuels innovation to keep America competitive globally, has doubled under the Biden-Harris Administration. At a time when we are seeing historic highs in our entrepreneurial activity with a small business boom, investing in America’s innovative startups is a top priority. America’s Seed Fund, powered by the SBA and fueled by 11 federal agencies’ SBIR and STTR programs, is the largest source of early-stage funding in the world.  With FAST, we have now expanded our entrepreneurial ecosystem to nearly every state so that entrepreneurs with great ideas can invent it, commercialize it, and build it with America’s Seed Fund in every corner of America,” said Administrator Guzman.

FAST’s objective is to improve outcomes for underserved communities by increasing participation from woman-owned, rural-based, or socially or economically disadvantaged small businesses through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, which are known as America’s Seed Fund.

This year, the FAST program increased the maximum funding available by 60% to expand the geographic footprint of FAST and increase engagement of underserved, geographic, and demographic innovators across the country. As a result, FAST awardee organizations will provide support across 48 states and Puerto Rico. FAST organizations work locally and provide person-to-person support and training that increases the probability of success for entrepreneurs and small businesses pursuing SBIR or STTR contracts and grants.

The FAST program(Link is external) provides awards for a base period of 12 months, plus four optional continuation periods of 12 months each.

The FAST grantees are as follows:

STATE    ORGANIZATION
Alabama    The Catalyst Center for Business & Entrepreneurship
Alaska    University of Alaska Fairbanks
Arkansas    University of Arkansas System dba Univ. of Ark. at Little Rock
Arizona    Commerce Authority, Arizona
California    Cal Poly Humboldt Sponsored Programs Foundation
Colorado    Economic Development and International Trade, Colorado Office
Connecticut    Connecticut Innovations, Inc.
Delaware    University of Delaware
Florida    University of Central Florida Research Foundation, inc.
Georgia    University of Georgia Research Foundation
Hawaii    Hawaii Technology Development Corporation
Idaho    Idaho State University
Illinois    Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
Indiana    Indiana Economic Development Corporation
Iowa    Iowa State University of Science and Technology
Kansas    Wichita State University
Kentucky    Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation
Louisiana    Louisiana Economic Development
Maine    Central Maine Growth Council
Maryland    Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO)
Michigan    BBC Entrepreneurial Training & Consulting
Minnesota    MNSBIR, Inc.
Missouri    The Curators of the University of Missouri 
Mississippi    Innovate Mississippi
Montana    Montana State University
Nebraska    Board of Regents, Univ. of Neb., dba Univ. of Neb. at Omaha
Nevada    Board of Regents, NSHE obo the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
New Hampshire    University of New Hampshire
New Jersey    Rutgers, The State University
New Mexico    Regents of New Mexico State University
New York    Research Foundation of CUNY
North Carolina    First Flight Venture Center, Inc.
North Dakota    University of North Dakota
Ohio    Ohio Aerospace Institute
Oklahoma    Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma
Oregon    VertueLab
Pennsylvania    Ben Franklin Technology Partners Corporation
Puerto Rico    Puerto Rico Science, Technology & Research Trust
Rhode Island    Rhode Island Commerce Corporation
South Carolina    University of South Carolina
South Dakota    South Dakota Biotechnology Council
Tennessee    Tennessee Technology Development Corporation dba LaunchTN
Texas    The University of Texas at San Antonio
Utah    Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity
Virginia    Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation
Washington    Life Science Washington Institute
Wisconsin    Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System 
West Virginia    U.S. Research Impact Alliance
Wyoming    University of Wyoming

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