APEX conducts workshops with university partners during release periods. The workshops start at a 30,000-foot level to introduce the U.S. Air Force Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) / Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program to anyone not familiar with it. From there, we drill down to ground level to discuss what it is like to go through a proposal for Phase I and the things one should know. In addition, we take a more detailed look at the current pre-solicitation to address whatever the current technology focus is or to address changes in instructions. We split the workshops so that those who are already familiar with U.S. Air Force SBIR / STTR can skip the first half and just attend the in-depth review of the current solicitation. We also include local SBIR / STTR companies and support, such as the Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) in your area so people know who they can count on locally for assistance.
While working with the university partner, we try to keep these workshops highly targeted to researchers with an interest and capability to work on technologies of interest to the U.S. Air Force. A natural participant in our work with universities is the university spinout. Those firms have a built-in link with the university that is great for U.S. Air Force STTR applications. We are building a network of universities and small businesses / spinouts in the orbit of those universities. As that network grows, we will establish a more formal way of matchmaking a university researcher to company partner for U.S. Air Force STTR proposals. Right now, we can use our current networks with assistance from APEX data analytics to help a university researcher find an agreeable partner. We can also work with technology transfer or the commercialization function of the university to understand the process of obtaining the necessary agreements between the university and the small business in order to participate in the U.S. Air Force SBIR / STTR program.
During proposal periods, we help navigate the process of submitting a proposal. Often, we will set up online sessions to help with finding the right set of instructions and answering any questions regarding the rules and strategies with putting together the best proposal. We won’t write a proposal; however, we can provide helpful insight to better the offering. After a Phase I award is achieved, we engage with teams with which we assisted on a regular basis to help them with making connections in their effort to obtain a Memorandum of Understanding. We look at the services for our university researchers as an ongoing relationship. U.S. Air Force SBIR / STTR is just the first step. We stay in touch as new opportunities arise for which they seem to be a good fit.