Go or No Go?

In a new program dubbed “Go/NoGo,” the Connecticut SBIR office is offering free assessments to businesses considering an innovative new product or service.

The office assists companies with the federal Small Business Innovation Research program, under which U.S. agencies award contracts for experimental technologies that show promise for various missions. The subsequent commercialization of SBIR projects is a major goal of policymakers.

The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development hosted a national SBIR forum in Hartford that drew more than 800 people to get tips on how to reach a broader audience with their SBIR projects, also the focus of a conference this month in San Antonio, Texas.

The eight-to-12-page Go/NoGo reports amount to a $2,000 freebie, and can be used as tools to attract equity or debt-financing partners or advisory board members, as well as in any future proposals for SBIR funding. The application takes about 30 minutes to complete.

“(It) is basically an objective report that really helps a small business get a handle on a new idea that they have before they invest a lot of time and money into an idea,” said Deb Santy, who heads the Connecticut SBIR office. “Has anyone else patented any technology around this kind of thing? Is there really a market for this? Will somebody actually buy it? Are there competitors for this product?”

Connecticut companies regularly win SBIR contracts, in part due to the state”™s concentration of defense contractors, precision-engineering shops and life-sciences innovators. Awards are typically about $150,000 for an initial phase I award, and up to $3 million for a phase II SBIR project.

This summer, for instance, M Cubed Technologies won an SBIR contract from the U.S. Army for an advanced ceramic material that is crack resistant, for potential use in body armor.

The debut of the Go/NoGo program coincides with the annual Connecticut Quality Improvement Awards, which measures companies”™ overall efforts to innovate in products and operations. Stamford-based Zargis Medical Corp. was one of four companies to receive a CQIA “platinum” designation for its software that allows doctors to record and analyze heart sounds wirelessly from a stethoscope.

The platinum quartet also includes Freund Farm in East Canaan, which has already drawn national attention for its “CowPots” seed planters made from cow manure.

The prizes extend to nonprofits ”“ for instance, Fairfield University shared a CQIA prize for its “Mentor” software developed with Shelton-based Axiom Education. And Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center in Derby was recognized for its NuVal system that calculates a single score for each food by weighing more than 30 nutrient entries, based on their effects on overall health, for each product. The system is in use at hundreds of supermarkets.

“The 2010 winners have re-imagined and created great innovations changing the way we garden, shop for groceries, weld steel and even how we listen to a patient”™s heartbeat,” said Sheila Carmine, executive director of the Connecticut Quality Improvement Award Partnerships Inc., in a prepared statement. “What”™s more impressive is that wonderful new ideas have all come from right here in Connecticut.”

Other Fairfield County companies receiving CQIA honors include:

  • American Express Open, Stamford;
  • APT Metrics, Darien;
  • Cartus Corp., Danbury;
  • Countdown to Buy, Bethel;
  • Duracell, Bethel;
  • Funkoos, Danbury;
  • Go e cart, Bridgeport;
  • HAWC Technologies, Newtown;
  • Kimchuk, Danbury;
  • Nestle Waters, Stamford;
  • Norwalk Community College, Norwalk;
  • Owl Computing Technologies, Ridgefield;
  • PerkinElmer, Shelton;
  • Praxair Inc., Danbury; and
  • Tauck, Norwalk.

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