by William C. Sproull
President and CEO, Richardson Chamber of Commerce
Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer
(STTR) grants were the subject of a semi-annual national conference held Oct. 29–Nov.
1 at the Renaissance Hotel-Richardson and the Eisemann Center.
SBIR and STTR grants are part of a $2 billion program of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s
Small Business Administration. Over 20 federal agencies such as the Dept. of Defense (Army,
Navy, Air Force), DARPA) the Dept. of Health and Human Services, including the National
Institute of Health and the FDA, the Dept. of Agriculture, the Dept. of Education, the EPA and
others made presentations to attendees on their particular agency needs.
Over 400 Representatives of area small businesses, entrepreneurs and university researcher
partners learned how to apply for and win government SBIR/STTR grants, market their
businesses and heard about the successes of other companies that commercialized their product
through SBIR/STTR grants.
Gov. Rick Perry’s office was instrumental in securing the conference for Texas, and
Richardson was fortunate to be asked to host the conference. I have served as the conference
committee’s chair, and am thrilled to have been able to bring this opportunity to
Richardson.
Participants at the conference included senior-level SBIR and STTR representatives
from numerous federal agencies, Texas Secretary of State Phil Wilson, state and
local elected officials, university researchers, scientists and venture capitalists.
In addition to this conference, Richardson is fortunate to have recently recruited the
headquarters of the newly formed Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce. The Texas-Israel
Chamber will help forge relationships between Texas and Israeli companies, which are a
very good fit for our many high-tech companies in Richardson. UT-Dallas also has a budding
relationship with Israel’s premier high-tech university, Technion. The Texas-Israel
Chamber will be located at the StarTech facility on Collins Blvd.