GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
Building Technology Development
To advance technology-based economic development initiatives, the Council will:
Support the Creation of Matching SBIR Program for Recipients of NIH Funding
The Council will develop and promote legislation to provide matching grants for recipients of Phase I SBIR grants from the National Institutes of Health.
- In 2001, the General Assembly approved the Master Tobacco Settlement Act, which, among other provisions, created a program to provide matching grants to Pennsylvania universities that secure research grants through the National Institutes of Health. Though small businesses in Pennsylvania have secured more than $117 million from the NIH during the past five years, no program was established to further support their research endeavors. Many states have created matching SBIR programs to support economic development and to leverage additional research funding from the federal government.
- If a matching grant program had been available, at least 34 small businesses in southwestern Pennsylvania would have been eligible for matching grants.
- In 2007, the Select Committee of the PA Senate that reviewed the Master Tobacco Settlement Act recommended the matching SBIR program as a key suggestion for future reforms.
Go Government. For more information about the Council’s Government Relations initiatives, or if you have a specific issue that you would like to see the Council address, please contact Brian Kennedy, Vice President, Government & External Relations at 412.918.4297.