ASBTDC Awarded $125K Grant to Help Startups

(Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center)

The Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center on the University of Arkansas at Little Rock campus has received a $125,000 grant to help companies pursue federal grants and contracts.

The money will go toward specialized training, mentoring, and technical assistance for research and development-focused small businesses, including the ASBTDC’s Lab2Launch Accelerator.

The Small Business Administration awarded the grant under the Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership program, which aims to improve outcomes for the SBA’s Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer programs in underserved communities. It seeks to increase participation in those programs from women-owned, rural-based, and socially or economically disadvantaged small businesses.

Laura Fine, state director of the ASBTDC, said in a news release, “Innovation and entrepreneurship are important to growing Arkansas’s economy, and this funding enables ASBTDC to continue our work helping emerging tech companies compete for and win SBIR and STTR awards.”

The center, which received $200,000 from the FAST program in 2017, was one of 32 organizations from across the country that received a grant this year.

SBA Administrator Isabella Guzman said in the release,”Supporting all our nation’s innovative startups and increasing equitable access to federal research funding is a priority for the SBA, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it will build a stronger future for all of us.”