The broader impact of this Accelerating Women and Under-Represented Entrepreneurs (AWARE) project is to enhance success for women- and minority-owned businesses in obtaining NSF Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) funding, thereby leading to a diverse and responsive innovation ecosystem connecting minority entrepreneurs with existing sources of support that ultimately improves the health of Americans, especially disadvantaged populations. Health care is a highly regulated environment that requires a level of scientific and clinical rigor that challenges many entrepreneurs. Academic researchers, on the other hand, are well-versed in issues regarding access to appropriate patient populations, clinical accuracy and relevance, human subjects' protection in research studies. This project will build mutually-beneficial collaborations and training among underrepresented entrepreneurs and academic researchers to determine best practices for diversifying the pool of principal investigators receiving SBIR funding. Training will focus on NSF SBIR/STTR program requirements while mentorship by experts will support entrepreneurs in the development, review and refinement of key proposal elements and implementation, research and commercialization plans. This model will bring all of these resources and expertise into one immersive training for underrepresented entrepreneurs who already have potentially high risk-high reward technology with evidence for commercial potential.
The proposed project will develop and test the AWARE Immersion Program to increase both the quality and quantity of SBIR/STTR proposals submitted by startup companies that traditionally have been disadvantaged and underrepresented in the program. Through mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, the barriers and facilitators to SBIR submission for successful women and minority early entrepreneurs (graduated from a top accelerator program) will be determined. The program will be based on this extensive needs assessment with minority and women entrepreneurs and key leaders of incubators and innovation programs. The findings will guide the development of the specific elements of the immersion program. The first group of entrepreneurs will be recruited through the existing network of incubators and through our established community and entrepreneurial networks. Those recruited will be matched to health care researchers and clinicians with experience in SBIR/STTR funding as well as business and commercial professionals. The program will consist of a number of webinars, in-person trainings, planning meetings and writing sessions. Each entrepreneur will develop a plan of action with their mentor/advisory team at the start of the program which will be monitored to ensure that clear objectives met, culminating in the submission of an SBIR/STTR proposal.
