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Re: [ontolog-forum] Goverment funding for private research?

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Ed Barkmeyer <edbark@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:18:00 -0400
Message-id: <49EE3808.9020306@xxxxxxxx>
Adrian Walker wrote:    (01)

> Our experience has been that we spend a person-week preparing an SBIR and
> submitting it -- and it drops into a black hole.    (02)

Well, I can't speak for the black holes in other agencies, but every 
proposal we receive goes to a review team mostly selected by the person 
who posted the research topic, and the reviews and ratings go on file. 
If you submit to an NIST SBIR topic, you can come back in June, when the 
awards are announced, and ask to see the reviews of your proposal.  You 
won't see the reviewers' names, or your overall ranking, but you will 
see every word the reviewers wrote.  So I recommend that you follow up 
on some of those black holes and find out what you are doing wrong.    (03)

In my experience, most SBIR reviewers are not interested in a solution 
that is looking for a problem.  They want to know how your great idea 
will solve their problem.  They are expecting to see a proposal that 
demonstrates some knowledge of the problem space, and some new idea for 
how to attack it.    (04)

And yes, your reputation in the industry, and your prior relationships 
with that agency or another agency will often make a difference, in one 
direction or another.  But, as an erstwhile colleague of mine in the UK 
NHS once observed, "it is nice to see a proposal that validates the 
reputation."  ;-)    (05)

-Ed    (06)

-- 
Edward J. Barkmeyer                        Email: edbark@xxxxxxxx
National Institute of Standards & Technology
Manufacturing Systems Integration Division
100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8263                Tel: +1 301-975-3528
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8263                FAX: +1 301-975-4694    (07)

"The opinions expressed above do not reflect consensus of NIST,
  and have not been reviewed by any Government authority."    (08)

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