Want to get your share of the $3B in research and development (R&D) that the United States Federal Government is awarding each year to businesses like yours? Think that millions in non-dilutive R&D funding for your business is too good to be true? Think again. In FY 2020, businesses in the South Bend - Elkhart region (SBE) won over $6.5M in R&D funding, with awards ranging from $50K to $1.5M. Register for the one of our "Introduction to SBIR | STTR" sessions to learn more!

Each session will be led by Dave Temeles of Third Coast Federal (TCF), a Federal ecosystem expert, providing Midwestern companies with the actionable insight, relationships and resources required to leverage Federal R&D and contracting awards to drive innovation, diversification and economic growth.

Dave has been representing Federal Contractors and tech companies on a variety of legal and consulting matters for more than a quarter century. As President of Third Coast Federal, Dave consults with companies on a range of issues around research and development funding, contracting vehicles, contracting strategies, small business certifications and set-aside qualification, pricing and indirect rates calculations and methodologies, regulatory and compliance matters, and proposal development. As a partner at SouthBank Legal: LaDue | Curran | Kuehn, Dave represents clients on joint venture formation, teaming and subcontracting agreements and Federal contract disputes and bid protests, in addition to Intellectual Property, corporate, investment, M&A and tax matters. He is a frequent speaker and moderator on a variety of Federal contracting, Federal R&D and investment topics.

Dave is currently a leader in the region's efforts to build a regional Federal ecosystem to help companies drive innovation and growth through the use of Federal contracting and Research and Development funds and resources. He is the founder/director of Federal Ecosystems Development, Inc., a non-profit that supports the Industry 4.0 Consortium and a regional SBIR|STTR Accelerator. Dave is also an advisor to the Northeast Indiana Defense Industry Association.

As background, the United States sponsors over $130B in research and development (R&D) annually. Approximately $3B of this R&D funding is awarded to businesses with 500 or fewer employees through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs. The Department of Defense (DoD) and National Science Foundation (NSF) have recently modified their SBIR|STTR processes to expand the scope of innovation that qualifies for funding and to dramatically reduce the time and expense required to win an award. These awards equate to free money for your business – you do not need to issue equity for it or repay it. We will explore the new expansive scope of what qualifies for SBIR|STTR funding as well as the new simplified DoD and NSF processes that make it much easier to win.

Following the presentations, we will help you explore your specific R&D opportunities, the value of those opportunities, and the agency solicitations to which you should apply. We will then connect you with a proposal writer and other resources you need in order to create and submit a winning proposal (all at no cost to you).