SWE - Spring 2009 - (Page 38)

leader of Simulation and Training Systems at General Electric, but also from her experience in K-12 education. Vcom3D’s software products facilitate virtual learning from sign language to cultural training for the military and business. Kenneth P. Morse, managing director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, “Since 1997, we have started more than a thousand companies, many of them led by women.” The biggest obstacles — and the help that is available The value added of entrepreneurs Fortunately, these women and others like them took risks and overcame uncertainties. Overall, entrepreneurs add significantly to the economy, having created 10.1 million companies. As of December 2008, women business owners hold 20 percent of firms with revenues over $1 million, according to the Center for Women’s Business Research. The impact of entrepreneurs can be seen in the number of companies founded by MIT graduates and faculty. A study conducted by the Economics Department of BankBoston in 1997 stated, “If the companies founded by MIT graduates and faculty formed an independent nation, the revenues produced by the companies would make that nation the 24th largest economy in the world.” Observed Whether people become entrepreneurs despite their trepidation or because of their passion, they have significant obstacles to tackle, starting with the sheer time it takes to move an idea from lab bench to product. Add in the skills to run a viable business or find others to do so, and the path to success becomes more difficult to navigate. Morse cited four stages to take tech-based products from lab to market: idea, invention, innovation, and impact. Getting from idea to invention can take years — often with no revenue coming in. “In biotech and in software engineering, those who invented security codes worked on algorithms for years,” noted Morse. The next stage is invention, which is building a prototype and testing it. This step can also be a lengthy process. Innovation, which YOU’VE GOT THE IDEA; HOW DO YOU FUND IT? Without capital, great ideas remain only ideas. Ping Fu; Carole Teolis, Ph.D.; and Carol Wideman had funding from the National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs to move their ideas into a business. These women entrepreneurs illustrate the effectiveness of the SBIR/STTR programs, which exist to “increase the incentive and opportunity for small firms to undertake cutting-edge, high risk, high quality scientific, engineering, or science and engineering education research that would have a high potential economic payoff if the research is successful,” as stated on the SBIR/STTR Web site. Currently, the SBIR/STTR programs are looking at how they can increase the participation of women and underrepresented minorities. “The SBIR programs provide a mechanism to enable the transfer of basic research to small businesses to increase the potential to commercialize,” stated Cheryl Albus, program director of the NSF Directorate for Engineering, Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships. The emphasis is on big impact in the commercial, societal, and educational areas. Citing grants given 38 SWE SPRING 2009 for speech-assisted learning devices to teach the blind to read Braille or a technology that helps children with autism, Albus explained, “Big risk for a cancer cure, little risk for fixing ingrown toenails.” In addition to the originality of the idea and its potential to make a great impact, SBIR/STTR proposals are judged on their vision and understanding of the market. Proposals must provide evidence of a commercially viable product, device, or system and/or meet an important social or economic need. They should have a high-potential commercial payback and high-risk efforts. Said Albus, “We look for ideas that support education and an important social or economic need, for instance, those that don’t get a lot of commercialization but have a high return on societal benefit to those in society who are overlooked.” CEO and co-founder of Vcom3D Inc. Wideman noted how the SBIR was key to the development of her company. The founders had the knowledge of what could be done and how to do it but needed funds to develop the initial technology and its usage. Vcom3D technology uses avatars in eLearning, a niche market that was not highly profitable in 1997 when she started the company. With the money from their first SBIR grant awarded in 1998, Wideman and her staff were able to leverage the technology to develop authoring tools for avatars that teach sign language to the deaf or cultural gestures to military personnel stationed overseas. Since then, Wideman has seen the technology and its applications grow exponentially. “Several years ago people said, ‘Why do I need an avatar?’ A year ago, they said, ‘We’re interested.’ This year, they’re deciding which of our tools to use,” she said. The SBIR/STTR programs offer various ways for engineers and scientists with an entrepreneurial bent to seek funds. A principal investigator who has the idea and wants to start a company could hire a CEO and seek an SBIR/STTR grant to research, test, and commercialize the idea. Or the head engineer or CTO from a small company might want to research a new idea and submit a proposal. For more information about SBIR/STTR grants, visit http://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/sbir/ diversity/index.jsp or contact the NSF representatives: Cheryl Albus at calbus@nsf.gov Juan Figueroa at jfiguero@nsf.gov http://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/sbir/diversity/index.jsp http://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/sbir/diversity/index.jsp

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of SWE - Spring 2009

SWE - Spring 2009 Heritage Club Contents President's Note View from the Executive Suite Editor’s Page Honoring Women’s History Public Policy Update First Lady: The “Second-Hardest Job in America” Bringing Science and Engineering into Public Policy At the Intersection of Engineering and Public Policy From Research to Reality Coffee Table Dialogues Membership Information & Calendar A&B Winning Essays from the Lava Lounge Engineering World: Issues • Events • Technology • People Point of View: Your Role in Public Policy Career Toolbox: Communicating with Congress; Finding Your Voice Corporate Partnership Council Media Shelf: Women’s History Opportunity Index SWE Scrapbook: Dressed for Success

SWE - Spring 2009

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