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MTIP receives 2020 FAST Grant!

MTIP receives 2020 FAST Grant!

MTIP is pleased to announce that we have been awarded a $125,000 Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program grant to evolve our support for Montana’s technology-related businesses for the seventh time. The grant was awarded by the U.S. Small Business Administration for the 2020 year. Only 24 out of 50 states receive FAST funding after a competitive application that includes proposal review by the SBA, NASA, the Missile Defense Agency, U.S. Navy Office of Naval Research, and the NIH. 

MSU’s TechLink Center collaborates to advance Montana’s innovation economy and stimulate economic development. The executive director of TechLink, Brett Cusker, comments that “FAST funding will help more Montana companies focused on high-risk technology successfully compete for important seed capital through the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs.”Montana’s most promising sector of the economy is small technology firms. Due to the scenic beauty and other amenities, Montana has attracted technology entrepreneurs and spawned numerous startup companies. One of the state’s challenges is growing the technology sector outside the traditional university hubs. MTIP is proud to be a part of this outreach noting that 27 Montana towns have had at lease one SBIR/STTR awardee to date. 

Stay tuned this year as we expand services by rolling-out additional SBIR/STTR resources for Montana high-tech companies. This year we will:Provide training, outreach, proposal development tools and expert technical assistance to Montana tech startups such asa new workshop on preparing SBIR/STTR cost proposals project management and proposal templates to jump-start proposal writing more webinars/seminars with SBIR Program ManagersFAST Micro-Grants for small technology businesses working on SBIR/STTR proposalsCollaborate with other organizations in our mentor network to identify and engage with as many early-stage technology companies as possible through support for accelerator, alliance and economic development partners regional seminars across the state live-stream workshops and recorded webinars to enable rural innovators and partner organizations to access our program content.

Read more here.