D. Strategies for Project Selection
All potential SBIR projects should be evaluated along three dimensions: Agency Importance, Commercial Importance, and Technology Leadership.
Agency Importance provides a measure of your firm's ability to meet federal research and development needs through the project under consideration. The following factors should be considered:
the extent to which a project can be considered responsive to an SBIR solicitation topic or subtopic;
the degree to which your project contributes to the agency's mission and the national need that it serves;
Commercial Importance provides a measure of your firm's potential ability to transform R&D into projects on a specific project. In determining the Commercial Importance of a project you should consider the following factors:
the extent to which your estimate of return-on-investment (ROI) for the project exceeds the ROI of the most preferable alternative investment;
your ability to specify the steps necessary to carry the project through R&D to full production;
the extent to which input from potential customers was part of the project design process.
Technology Leadership is a measure of the scientific and technical capacity of your firm in a particular technology base. It indicates your firm's ability to play a leading role in developing that base. Among the factors you should consider are:
the qualifications of all R&D personnel (both in-house and consultants), including their education, expertise, and areas of major R&D interest;
your managers' experience in the particular technology base;
your ownership of, or access to, relevant lab, testing, and production equipment.
Projects should then be ranked on the basis of the evaluations of these three factors together. Various mathematical or heuristic techniques can be used to quantify the procedure. Such publications as Research Management, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, and Spectrum often feature articles directly relating to project selection as well as other R&D management concerns.
Once you have established a ranking, the next step is to think of reasons for dropping your preferred projects. Are the products or services derived from your first choice likely to stand up in operation as well as they do in tests? Can they be easily serviced or replaced if need be? Will they lead to an excessive risk of product liability suits? Is your technological leadership dependent upon retaining a single key employee or consultant?
If your present access to specific equipment ends, can you find substitute equipment in a reasonable period of time? In short: What can go wrong and how likely is it to go wrong?
Make an honest assessment. If the approach is poor, you can change it. If you do not have the capacity to conduct the project at present, it is always possible to hire staff, consultants, or para-professionals and technicians and to lease equipment or facilities. However, if you feel your project is not sufficiently attractive to win an SBIR award, it is a sign of sound business judgment to devote your resources to other efforts where your chances of success are better. If is preferable to address your weaknesses yourself prior to the submission of the proposal and avoid the investment in a proposal where there is little chance of success. SBIR is highly competitive.
When done correctly, the SBIR planning process should be viewed as an important component in your business planning. If your proposed SBIR project will contribute to your business growth then it should be considered a valid endeavor for your company whether or not you actually receive an SBIR award. If you have followed the steps outlined in this chapter you should have developed an honest assessment of your technical capability to produce a worthwhile result and the likelihood of the product's or service's eventual marketability. You should have identified related interests both within federal agencies and private companies. In short, you should be well on track for finding alternative sources of funding.
It is now time to prepare the proposal.
