Though their SBIR-STTR interests and the forms of their program engagement are quite distinctly different, thinking of the various players that are variously involved in the SBIR space as a Community can be useful. With the Awardees the common element, others which make up this community are
In this part of the site the effort is to identify those in each one of these groupings AND - I think usefully - to provide each of those groups of players some of the tools and resources which effectively can support their particular form of Community involvement.
With particular focus on where their involvement fits into the business partnering process, Comprehensive systems:
Part of the small group that had created the SBIR program and long-time SBIR advocate since then, from soon after passage of the original SBIR enabling legislation making the program government-wide, we began
systematically to keep the SBIR record. Begun as a searchable Awards database offered as a Bulletin Board in the eighties and almost certainly the first to offer a comprehensive overview of the SBIR Program in a single system, for many years the several early iterations of this website have been a (the) primary source for just about everyone
- of complete, and always most current, listing in a single system of every SBIR-STTR award and awardee
- and of the extensive analyses of what was going on in the program that were possible when we had these massively sophisticated systems and had developed the tools to slice and dice that data to make it powerful business actionable information
Perhaps ironically, though systematic data compiliation is at the core of what we do, we were
never actually in the 'business' of providing/selling data or analyses and still less of helping small firms get SBIRs. Nonetheless, even many of those who knew us well never quite understood that. For Members of Congress, the Executive branch, agencies, states, analysts, academics, the media and lots of small firms etc we were the go-to source for what they needed:
Data ... and a few of them even paid us.
As the technology and the tools became available, our systems evolved to include comprehensive data not only on every SBIR-STTR award but exquisitely detailed information about the business and technology condition and relevant capabilities of every awardee. Particularly in the many political battles that have had to be fought, the very powerful analyses that these systems make possible, we have usually been directly on the front-line and/or providing the data they need to others similarly involved.
