BACKGROUND

THE USDA COMMERCIALIZATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (USDA-CAP)

Overview   -   Activities   -   Participation Cost   -   Enrollment   -   Questions

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BACKGROUND

The USDA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program provides grants to qualified small business firms to support innovative research projects that address important problems facing American agriculture or rural America. The USDA SBIR program is carried out in three separate phases. Small businesses initially apply to an eight month Phase I grant to conduct a technical feasibility study. If Phase I is completed successfully, the small businesses can apply for a two year Phase II grant to continue the research effort. Phase III is the commercialization phase where the small businesses use non-SBIR funds to commercialize the product, process, technology, or service developed during Phases I and II.

THE USDA COMMERCIALIZATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (USDA-CAP)

Overview:

In support of its SBIR Phase II program, USDA aims to facilitate the transition of developed technologies, processes, and/or services into the commercial marketplace to further the economic goals of the USDA SBIR grantees and to provide solutions to some of the agricultural/rural problems USDA addresses. With this intention in mind, USDA has teamed with Larta Institute, a premier technology commercialization assistance organization, to develop and deliver a pilot program designed to assist USDA's SBIR Phase II awardees in the commercialization of their technologies, processes and/or services.

The program, called USDA-CAP, begins in January 2008 and will comprise of training seminars, individual mentoring/coaching sessions, exposure to potential partners/investors networks and the development of a brief commercialization plan/roadmap which participating companies may adopt at the conclusion of the program. This roadmap will be customized for each USDA-CAP participant and will include clear commercialization objectives for the company, and the steps it needs to take to achieve those objectives.

The USDA-CAP will be conducted over five months and is available at no cost, only to current USDA SBIR Phase II Awardees.

Activities:

This commercialization assistance program is comprised of 4 modules:

1. Outreach & Enrollment:

- USDA will contact to all SBIR Phase II awardees via e-mail and make them aware of the opportunity to participate in this program.

- SBIR Phase II awardees that express their interest in participating in the program will be asked to submit an enrollment form through an on-line system. All information submitted by the awardees will remain strictly confidential and will be used only with the purpose of gathering relevant information that will help Larta assess each company's needs.

- The deadline to enroll is December 21, 2007.

- Once all of the awardees' enrollment forms are collected, Larta will contact those companies for which clarifications and/or more information is required. We will then provide all enrolled participants with additional, more specific details on the program.

2. Commercialization Training Workshop (CTW):

The Commercialization Training Workshop (CTW) is a 2-day event that will take place on January 29-30, 2007 at USDA's facilities in D.C. At the CTW, participants will interact with industry and subject-matter experts on issues and practices relevant to business. Just as important, participants will also meet one-on-one with an assigned mentor for at least 2-hours to initiate the commercialization strategy assessment process and product. Attendance and participation at the CTW is mandatory for all enrollees.

The 2-day workshop will tentatively begin on Jan. 29 at 7:30AM and ends on Jan. 30 at 6:30PM. More details will be available after the event agenda is finalized.

The workshop will be held at the USDA ERS facility located at 1800 M Street, NW, Washington DC, 20036. The ERS facility is accessible via the Metrorail Farragut North (red line) or Farragut West (blue and orange lines) metro stops. The Farragut West metro stop is about 16 minutes away from the Ronald Reagan International Airport.

The USDA SBIR program has secured a room block at the St. Gregory Luxury Hotel & Suites.  The room block has been secured under government per diem rates ($201.00 per/night) for the Washington DC Metro area. Reservations must be made by 12/29/07 to qualify for the government per diem rate. When calling the St. Gregory, you must identify yourself as attending U.S. Department of Agriculture; this will place you in our room block and at the correct rate.  You can contact reservations at 202-530-3600 or 800-829-5034. For more information about the hotel follow this link http://www.capitalhotelswdc.com/StGregoryHotelWDC_com/sg-directions.htm#.

It is recommended that attendees make their flight reservations as soon as possible. The following airports are recommended, Ronald Reagan International Airport (DCA) or Dulles International Airport (IAD). Ronald Reagan International Airport is metro accessible via the blue line; if you fly into Dulles a taxi or shuttle service will be required to transport you the ERS facility location.

3. Commercialization Roadmap Development

After the CTW, participating companies will have personalized, mostly remote, mentoring/coaching sessions with their assigned mentor. Together, they will identify the company's commercialization goals and the steps to be taken to achieve them. Each mentor will spend approximately 4 hours in total with each company after the CTW.

Once the personalized coaching sessions are over, mentors will prepared a final commercialization roadmap report for each company outlining specific steps the company needs to take en rout to commercializing the USDA-SBIR funded technology, process and/or service. The report will be revised, as appropriate, and agreed upon by the company and then submitted to USDA.   

4. Monitoring/Tracking

Larta Institute will contact participating companies a few months after the completion of the program and follow up on their commercialization progress as well as soliciting feedback on the usefulness of the commercialization roadmap developed for them through the USDA-CAP.

Participation Cost:

The program is free to participants; there are no registration, or participation fees. Participants are expected, however, to invest their time to participate in the mentorship process and commercialization roadmap development, and are expected to attend the Commercialization Training Workshop on January 29-30 in Washington D.C. Participants are also expected to cover travel cost to attend the CTW.

NOTE: Participants are allowed to use funds from their USDA SBIR Phase II grant to participate in the CTW.

Enrollment:

1. Click on the green button below and register on the USDA-CAP website (2 minute process to generate a username and password for you to use the USDA-CAP website)

2. Once you register you will be directed to your enrollment page. Please fill out the enrollment form by December 21, 2007. There is no enrollment fee.  You will also receive a registration e-mail with your username and password so you can access the enrollment form at a later time.

Remember: should you not be able to complete the enrollment form all at once, you may return to your page by logging into your account. To log in, please enter your username and password in the log in section located on the upper left hand-side of this screen. Your username and password were sent to you in an e-mail after you register.

Questions?

To contact the USDA-CAP, please email cpachon@old.larta.org or call Constanza Pachon directly at 213-538-1451.