Research Park to Host America’s Seed Fund Road Tour Illinois Stop in 2024
The Research Park will be hosting the Illinois stop of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 16-state America’s Seed Fund Road Tour on July 17, 2024.
The event features programming, and 1:1 meetings between innovators and Federal Agency Representatives, to help attendees navigate over $4 billion in early-stage funding opportunities through America’s Seed Fund.
If you’re an innovator, entrepreneur, researcher, or small technology startup, don’t miss this opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of federal agency technology funding priorities, meet one-on-one with program managers, and connect with local support resources. This is an outreach effort that connects entrepreneurs to technology funding opportunities provided through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, known as “America’s Seed Fund.”
The FAST Center at the Research Park is one of the reasons the tour is coming to Champaign-Urbana. Led by EnterpriseWorks, the FAST Center provides free resources, support, and expertise necessary to submit a highly competitive proposal to help startups and companies bridge the gap between research and commercialization.
More information, including a detailed agenda and registration, will be released soon on the Research Park Calendar.
AMERICA’S SEED FUND 2024 ROAD TOUR SCHEDULE 2024:
The Great Lakes Tour will run from July 15-19, with stops in East Lansing, Michigan, Indianapolis, Indiana, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, Madison, Wisconsin, and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The Coastal Tour will run from February 7-9, with stops in Orlando, Florida; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The South Tour will run from April 2-5, with stops in Little Rock, Arkansas; Jackson, Mississippi; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Houston, Texas.
Finally, the Southeast Tour will run from May 13-17, with stops in Columbia, South Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; Knoxville, Tennessee; Lexington, Kentucky; and Huntington, West Virginia.
If you would like more information on the America’s Seed Fund Road Tour, including a schedule of stops and participating agencies, visit: americasseedfund.us/road-tour.
For more information about SBIR/STTR programs, please visit https://www.sbir.gov/ or follow America’s Seed Fund on Twitter.
About SBIR/STTR
SBA coordinates the SBIR/STTR programs, also known as America’s Seed Fund, which each year provides more than $3.7 billion in early-stage seed capital totaling over 5,000 awards to small businesses. Eleven participating federal government agencies announce funding opportunities as either grants or contracts to address their research and development needs. Companies supported by the SBIR/STTR programs often generate some of the most important breakthroughs each year in the U.S. Additional information about the programs, as well as past and current topics can be found at www.sbir.gov.
About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 and is a Cabinet-level agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist, and protect the interests of small business concerns, preserve free competitive enterprise, and maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation. The SBA helps Americans start, build, and grow businesses, and recover from disasters. Through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations, the SBA delivers its services to people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam. To learn more about SBA, visit www.sba.gov.