Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy
National Research Council

Symposium on
The SBIR Program: Challenges and Opportunities

AGENDA

17 February, 1998
Lecture Room
National Academy of Sciences
2100 C Street, NW
Washington, D.C.

Tuesday, February 17, 1998

8:30AM Continental Breakfast

9:00AM Welcome

Charles W. Wessner, National Research Council

Introduction

Mark Myers, Xerox and STEP Board

9:10AM Opening Remarks

Duncan Moore, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

9:20AM Panel I: History and Current Legislative Perspective on the SBIR Program

Moderator: Robert Neal, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, Department of Defense

- Origins of and Common Myths about the SBIR Program

Roland Tibbetts, NSF SBIR Program (Ret.)

Discussants:

Patty Forbes, Minority Staff Director, Senate Small Business Committee

Paul Cooksey, Chief Counsel, Senate Small Business Committee

James Turner, Minority Counsel, House Committee on Science

10:30AM Coffee Break

10:45AM Panel II: Research Perspectives on the SBIR

Moderator: Zoltan Acs, University of Maryland

- An Analysis of the SBIR

Josh Lerner, Harvard Business School

Discussant: Kenneth Flamm, Brookings Institution

11:30AM Panel III: Case Studies

Moderator: Dorothy Robyn, White House National Economic Council

- Relational Technologies

Gary Morgenthaler, General Partner Morgenthaler Ventures

Discussant: Paul Hoeper, Department of Defense

- Digital System Resources

Rich Carroll, President

Discussant: Lance Davis, Defense Research and Engineering

- Quantum Energy Technologies

John Preston, President and CEO

Discussant: Richard Russell, House Committee on Science

12:50PM Luncheon Address: Congressman Tom Davis

1:15PM Lunch: Refectory

2:30PM Panel IV: Program Challenges - Operational Views

Moderator: Dan Hill, Assistant Administrator for Technology, Small Business Administration

Carl Nelson, Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, (ret.)

David O’Hara, President, Parallax Research, Inc.

Gene Banucci, President, Advanced Technology Materials, Inc.

Gary Young, Vice-President, American Xtal Technology

3:30PM Coffee Break

3:45PM Panel V: Improving Assessment and Selection

Moderator: Dan Roos, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

- Lessons from ATP

Maryellen R. Kelley, NIST, Department of Commerce and Carnegie Mellon University

- The SBIR Experience at NIH

Wendy Baldwin, Office of Extramural Research, National Institutes of Health

- The Fast Track Pilot

Jon Baron, Department of Defense

Discussant: Charles Rowe, House Committee on Small Business

4:45PM Panel VI: Observations and Policy Issues: Agency Perspectives

Roundtable of SBIR Program Managers

Moderator: Charles Wessner, NRC

Arlene de Blanc, Department of Energy Kesh Narayanan, NSF

Jill Dickman, U.S. Air Force Robert Norwood, NASA

Kenneth Gabriel, U.S. Army Vinny Schaper, U.S. Navy

Herbert Kreitman, NIH

5:30PM Conclusion

Mark Myers, Xerox and STEP Board

Reception in the Great Hall