Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Representative Peter Welch (D-Vermont) Monday announced a $100,000 grant to Vermont State Colleges to support small business innovation and economic development. The Vermont Small Business Development Center, a statewide program of Vermont Technical College, will use the grant to work with small Vermont firms in strategizing their approaches to innovation and research.
In a joint statement, Leahy, Sanders and Welch said: “Technology-based business are an emerging sector of Vermont’s economy. Pairing Vermont Technical College with small businesses is a strategy that makes sense and encourages innovation across our region.”
The grant will support a Technology Commercialization advisor to work with small businesses, college faculty and students to develop new products and encourage technology innovation across the state.
The grant, awarded by the US Small Business Administration’s Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program,was part of $2 million awarded to 20 state and local economic development agencies, business development centers and colleges and universities around the country.
FAST is designed to stimulate economic development with outreach and technical assistance to science and technology-driven small businesses, with a particular emphasis on socially and economically disadvantaged firms, helping them to compete in federally funded research and development through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs.
Leahy, Sanders and Welch sent a letter in support of the grant toU.S. SBA Administrator Maria Contreas-Sweet of the US Small Business Administration in April.
WASHINGTON (MONDAY, June 15, 2015) – Delegation