The AZ Fast Grant competition

will open on Monday, March 10!

This competitive grant enables Arizona-based technology companies to initiate the commercialization process. Total funds available for this grant round are $175,000.

Maximum awards of $5,000 and $20,000 will enable companies to accomplish one of four scopes of work.

1. SBIR/STTR Proposal Development (Maximum award $5,000)

• Awardees will be automatically enrolled in our P^III Playbook training class with 23 hours of training and coaching. Cost per company to participate is $1,500. This will be paid from the AZ Fast Grant award. Services will be provided by consultants under contract with ACA.
• We are providing an additional $3,500 to the awardee for SBIT/STTR proposal writing assistance. The awardee may hire any professional consultant to assist them.

1. Commercialization Feasibility Study (Maximum award $5,000)  The awardee may hire any professional consultant to assist them.

• Identify show stoppers to commercialization before resources are spent commercializing a technology that is unlikely to succeed.

1. Other Acceptable Means of Technology Commercialization Assistance (Maximum award $5,000) The awardee may hire any professional consultant to assist them.

• Technology Review – An expert review of the technology under development to determine if it already exists, is a good candidate for intellectual property protection and is likely to find an attractive market.
• Requests for other acceptable means of technology commercialization assistance will be considered.

1. Innovation in Manufacturing (Maximum award $20,000)

• This award provides seed monies for the creation and proof of concept testing of disruptive tools and technologies to Arizona manufacturing firms in targeted business sectors.
• Commercialization of these tools and technologies is our top goal.
• Solution providers, i.e. – consultants, training firms, engineering and technology companies, and educational institutions, are required to team with manufacturers to submit proposals.
• Each proposer must identify a teaming arrangement with Arizona manufacturers. Preference will be given to proposers teaming with multiple manufacturing partners.
• Applicants and their manufacturing partners must leverage the award funds with a partial match of the requested award amount.
• Applicants must demonstrate a 50% match (cash and in-kind) of the requested award amount. Preference will be given to applicants with higher cash to in-kind ratio.
• Manufacturing partners must provide a total award match of at least 25% cash and/or in-kind, i.e. – labor, materials, machine time, plant overhead, etc. Preference will be given to applicants with higher industry in-kind contributions.
• Match requirements for a theoretical award might look like:

Innovation in Manufacturing Award          $20,000

Proposer Match (50%)                            $10,000

Sub Total                                   $30,000

Total of Manufacturing Partners’ Match (25%)  $7,500

Total Grant Value                                          $37,500

Important Details

• Applications must be completed on-line via the link on the AZ Fast Grant webpage .  
• Closes on April 14 @ 5pm MST.
• Awards will be announced in June.