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Subject:Re: Defining "proposal" and CBT From:Mary Howe <thunder -at- IDIR -dot- NET> Date:Fri, 30 May 1997 19:35:09 -0500
I've written three grant proposals for individuals or companies seeking
federal funding (and am quite likely to do more). Two of them were
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants, which are given to
people developing new technology (Phase I is about $100,000 for 6
months). They're administered by the SBA but given by 11 different
government agencies, and so the applications are all different. (One I
wrote was just funded, which is nice on my resume - yay!)
The other one I did recently was a NIST ATP grant. Okay, my brain is
dead. I think that's National Innovation in Science and Technology
Advanced Technology Program, but I might be making that up. That grant
application was for $2 million. It had been submitted twice before in
very badly written form. If this one comes through it will be a real
feather in my cap and will lead to more work.
The audience for these varies, but they're generally reviewed by
technical experts and marketing experts, who clearly have different
backgrounds. So the trick is to be technical enough to let the tech
experts know the applicant's expertise, and clear enough to let the
marketing experts know whether the project has a chance of
commercialization.
I'm glad this question was asked, because I wasn't clear on what is
involved in other kinds of proposals.
Mary
--
Mary Howe
Thunder Works, Inc.
Writing and Editing Services
thunder -at- idir -dot- net
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