Louisiana is millions of dollars poorer than it should be in Small Business Innovation Research grant money. Since 2000, the state has won about 85 SBIR grants—aimed at jump-starting and sustaining fledgling companies long enough to squeeze out inventions with commercial potential. Massachusetts has won 4,503.
Kevin Kelly, co-founder and president of Mezzo Technologies, is the state’s champion recipient of SBIR grants, having won about 25 SBIR grants totaling about $5.5 million. That there aren’t more Mezzos hauling in SBIRs around the state, Kelly sees as a problem.
“The fact of the matter is, we don’t like it,” he says. “It’s almost like being in a desert. It would be nice to have shared learning experiences so I could say here’s what I did right and here’s what I did wrong. I really don’t know any other companies like ours in Baton Rouge. They might be out there, I just don’t know who they are. If I was in the Boston area, there’d be 10 of them within a mile or two.”
Phase One SBIR grants are up to $100,000 for six months. Phase Two grants are up to $750,000 over 24 months. The state kicks in a 20% match.
“We get this 20% from the state, but they’re really giving us 20% on money that we brought in,” Kelly says. “It’s a good program, and there’s really no downside. They’re giving you money, but it’s like, ‘You dump a million in fresh dough into the economy. We’ll give you some of it back.’”
Charlie D’Agostino, executive director of the Louisiana Business & Technology Center, which administers the state’s SBIR program, says it’s vital to get the word out.
“We’ve got good scientists who can win these awards,” D’Agostino says. “It’s just like the lottery. You can’t win if you don’t buy a ticket.”
In years past, the state jumped in SBIR rankings thanks to a federal program that gave LBTC $250,000 annually, matched by $100,000 from Louisiana Economic Development, for outreach efforts. The program ran from 1999-2003.
During that time, Louisiana’s Phase One SBIR awards showed a marked increase, says Roy Keller, director of the Louisiana Technology Transfer Office. That changed when Congress killed the program.
Also in 1999, LBTC received funding from the state Board of Regents to start Phase Zero, a modest infusion of cash intended to help potentially Phase One-eligible companies position themselves to apply for a grant. Several other states started doing the same thing and even vaulted ahead of Louisiana in the assistance it gives to SBIR applicants.
Louisiana needs some kind of gap match as well, D’Agostino says. He thinks $50,000 for Phase One recipients, and perhaps another $50,000 to help Phase Two winners take the final step to commercialization, would fill a need. With gigantic budget cuts looming, no money has been allocated for gap funding, though LBTC isn’t giving up.
“We are continuing to work on that,” D’Agostino says.
