At a White House event, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced approximately $4 million to prizes to 80 growth accelerators in 43 states the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico through the second round of its Growth Accelerator Fund Competition. Launched in 2014, the competition makes awards of $50,000 each to help fund operating budgets for accelerators and other entrepreneurial ecosystem models in parts of the country where there are fewer conventional sources of access to capital (e.g., venture capital and angel capital investors).

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced today the addition of three more cluster organizations to the portfolio of communities supported through the SBA Regional Innovation Clusters initiative, raising the total number of awardees in the program to 14.

In the February 3 Federal Digest, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued proposed rules affecting Impact Small Business Investment Corporations (SBICs) and is accepting comments. In addition to codifying the existing, temporary guidelines, the proposal would add new investment certifications, change the expedited processing benefit for reduced fees and replace the branding penalty for non-compliant SBICs with the threat of imposed default.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) released a request for information (RFI) on revisions to two key areas of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) policy directives: SBIR/STTR Phase III policy; and, SBIR/STTR data rights.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently named the 50 winners of the first Growth Accelerator Fund competition, which recognizes accelerators building stronger entrepreneurial ecosystems in underserved parts of the country. Each organization will receive $50,000, in exchange for providing SBA with quarterly reports on their activities, impact and partnerships. SBA hopes to use the data to build a national database of information about accelerator programs and forge long-term relationships within the accelerator community.

The U.S. Small Business Administration has announced four new Regional Innovation Clusters that will be included among its portfolio of high-performing regional networks. Awardee clusters will receive $500,000-$550,000 for mentoring, counseling, pitch development and other small business support programs. The new members of SBA’s cluster portfolio include Milwaukee’s Water Technology Cluster, Southeastern New Mexico’s Autonomous and Unmanned Systems Cluster, a Retail, Supply Chain and Food Processing Cluster spanning the Ozarks region and a Marine Industries Cluster in several Gulf Coast states.

The Small Business Administration released its annual solicitation for the Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program, a competitive grants program for eligible organizations to conduct outreach and provide technical assistance services to technology-based small business owners.

There are 11 primary barriers to the adoption of additive manufacturing by tech entrepreneurs and small high-growth firms, according to a new report from the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Advocacy. These 11 barriers were identified via surveys and interviews with entrepreneurs, private industry and other participants. In addition to identifying the 11 barriers, respondents also provide best practices or recent activities around each of the identified barriers.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that it will commit $4 million to the second round of the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition. Launched in 2014, the competition makes awards of $50,000 each to help fund operating budgets for accelerators and other entrepreneurial ecosystem models in parts of the country where there are fewer conventional sources of access to capital (e.g., venture capital and angel capital investors). For this round of funding, applications are encouraged from manufacturing accelerator models. Applications are due June 1.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and its federal partners, announced the winners of its third annual Growth Accelerator Fund Competition on August 31. The 68 winners in 32 states and the District of Columbia were judged by more than 100 experts from both the public and private sector with entrepreneurial, investment, startup, economic development, capital formation and academic backgrounds.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the 2016 Growth Accelerator Fund competition. In its third year, the SBA will commit up to $3.95 million for accelerators and other entrepreneurial ecosystem models to compete for monetary prizes of $50,000 each. This year, the SBA will partner with several other federal agencies – NIH, NSF, Department of Education, and USDA – to provide additional prizes to accelerators that assist entrepreneurs with submitting proposals for the Small Business Innovation (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Applications must be submitted by June 3.

On July 25, the Small Business Administration (SBA) released a framework that allows qualifying small and disadvantaged businesses to obtain developmental assistance from mentor companies (both large and small businesses) and form joint ventures with those mentors to pursue government contracts.

As part of the Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program, the U.S. Small Business Administration has awarded up to $200,000 to organizations in 21 states to provide outreach and technical assistance to science and technology-driven small businesses. With an emphasis on socially and economically disadvantaged firms, the FAST program provides funds to organizations helping businesses better prepare to compete for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) funding.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) launched the 2017 InnovateHER: Innovating for Women Business Challenge – a cross-cutting prize competition to unearth innovative products and services that help impact and empower the lives of women and families.

The Small Business Administration announced the FY15 awardees of its Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program. In FY15, 20 state and local economic development agencies, business development centers, and colleges and universities will receive $100,000 each to support programs to establish and/or sustain programs that provide support to innovative, technology-driven small businesses in their state and help them compete in federally funded research and development through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.