Category: Grant Strategy

Non-Dilutive Funding Opportunities for Global Entrepreneurs: Ireland

All business is global, so your funding should be too! Consider global non-dilutive funding options–here’s how to start.

If you are a start-up entrepreneur in search of non-dilutive funding for your business, you know that to be successful you need to go big or go home. Searching for funding beyond the Four Fs (Family, Founders, Friends, and Fools)—whether through venture capitalists or government programs—requires the same amount of vision you invested in developing your initial business idea. Increasingly, businesses in many industries benefit from having a global reach, not just in sales and supply chain, but in financing as well.

In the last issue of Strategic Grantsmanship News (March 2018), I wrote about how many businesses (large and small) are eligible for non-dilutive funding through US government grants and contracts. In fact, in my snapshot of available funding on the day I wrote that piece last month, businesses were eligible for more R&D non-dilutive funding opportunities than were academic institutions, which are typically considered the prime beneficiaries of research grants.

That is all great news for businesses, but the US government is not the only non-dilutive game in town. In fact, it may not be the best option for your business. In addition to incredibly low success rates, the lengthy process and the limitations on investment and personnel in some programs can be prohibitive for some start-ups with global scope in industries with rapid development paradigms.

I encourage businesses to consider non-dilutive opportunities from other countries, either in addition to or in lieu of the US government funding (depending on individual circumstances). I recommend considering countries that have multiple opportunities and commercialization support programs. One country that fits the bill is Ireland. The Irish workforce is ample and well educated, and, in the past decade or so, Ireland has made great strides in developing an ecosystem of innovation for global multinationals, R&D centers, and start-ups to take advantage of this talented workforce. Today, Ireland, with a population just under 5M, is the 7th largest exporter of pharmaceuticals with a GDP in 2016 of €238.2B ($294.1B). As a member of the European Union (EU), Ireland offers companies access to the EU market. It is also worth noting that, post-Brexit, Ireland is the only English-speaking country in the Eurozone.

6 Strategies for Pursuing Global Non-Dilutive Funding Opportunities

Interested in exploring your non-dilutive funding opportunities? Here are six strategies for pursuing these opportunities:

  1. Research the opportunities and their immigration and legal requirements fully and consult an experienced lawyer. (For information about opportunities in Ireland, see below.)
  2. Create a timeline and integrate these opportunities into your business plan, both in terms of funding structure and personnel. Establishing your business in the country will take time, as will applying for support from government programs. Your pursuit of other funding opportunities, both through venture capital (VC) and non-dilutive funding sources, should be ongoing. Remember, even when pursuing funders offering non-dilutive funding, money attracts money.
  3. When developing your proposals, work with a writer/consultant who has experience applying for these funding opportunities. She should have experience and expertise in the market, regulatory environments, and specific strategies of the countries in which you wish to pursue funding.
  4. If you would like to establish residency or apply for a work permit or visa as part of establishing your enterprise in a country of which you are not a citizen, apply for these statuses through the business development programs themselves, if possible. These programs have teams that will facilitate your application, usually more quickly (and with more success) than applying directly through the general immigration process.
  5. Structure your funding with complementary funding sources. Funding opportunities are often complementary, and you can often structure your funding to include multiple non-dilutive sources. Remember, funders—even government programs—are looking to back successful ventures that attract an appropriate amount of funding from multiple sources.
  6. Female entrepreneurs should take advantage of funding and support programs for female entrepreneurs, e.g., Enterprise Ireland’s Competitive Start Fund for Female Entrepreneurs.

Resources

Where do you start? Two organizations that offer funding and other support for businesses in Ireland include:

  • Enterprise Ireland provides funding for companies of many stages of development. Companies with one or more founders with EU citizenship have broad access to these programs, but non-citizen entrepreneurs may also access some of these programs with a visa, work permit, or residency. (You can follow Enterprise Ireland on Twitter at @Entirl.)
  • The Industrial Development Agency (IDA) promotes investment in Ireland, and it too offers support (funding, training, international marketing consulting) to businesses interested in locating in Ireland. (You can follow the IDA on Twitter at @IDAIreland.)

Our group at Duke City Consulting is experienced in international funding and can help your team identify and pursue global opportunities. For more information, please visit our web site or contact us at (505)750-9272.

 

Should I Resubmit?

Seasoned PIs know that resubmissions generally have a much higher success rate than new submissions.

Seasoned grant seekers know that thick skin and abundant tenacity often separate the funded from the unfunded, and resubmission is just part of the process. Of course, getting comfortable with the concept of the sunk cost fallacy and being willing to walk away from untenable (read: unfundable) proposals is also a skill that will optimize your return on your valuable time.
Continue reading “Should I Resubmit?”

Are Businesses Eligible for Research Grants Outside of the SBIR/STTR Program?

Did you know that businesses are eligible for federal research grants too?

Most folks know that government research grant funding powers academic research, but did you know that businesses are eligible for research grants too? Grant funding is non-dilutive, meaning the small business does not have to give the funding agency a share of the business, as it would venture capitalists. While most entrepreneurs are aware of their eligibility for SBIR/STTR funding, many are unaware they qualify for many other agency-funded opportunities as well.

[Read: How to Find Research Funding Opportunities: A Quick Start Guide]

Grant funding has been the coin of the realm in academic research for decades, and most of the funding in the mechanisms traditionally associated with academic research, e.g., the NIH R01, still flows into these institutions. In return for this funding, researchers are required to submit reports on their progress and spending and are expected (or required) to share their final outcomes with their peers and the public as appropriate.

What many small businesses don’t know is that they, too, are often eligible for these funding mechanisms. Today I reviewed the posted grant and cooperative agreement opportunities offered by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that support a lot of research—Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). This is not a scientific survey, just a snapshot in time, but it is worth noting that, of the 1,474 total opportunities available, small businesses were eligible for 1,118 (76%) and businesses that don’t qualify as a small business were eligible for 1,022 (69%)! Perhaps most surprising was that in this sample businesses were eligible for more funding opportunities than academic research institutions, and these opportunities ranged from research grants to center grants and cooperative agreements (and, of course, SBIR/STTR funding opportunities).

The upshot here is, if you are a business owner in need of some R&D funding and you haven’t considered the many non-dilutive funding opportunities available to you from government agencies, you should. If you are a global entrepreneur, there are great non-dilutive funding opportunities available to you outside of the US as well.

[Read: Non-Dilutive Funding Opportunities for Global Entrepreneurs]

Updated: 27 June 2019

Like What You See?

This article was published in the March issue of Strategic Grantsmanship News, a newsletter distributed monthly to subscribers to the Strategic Grantsmanship mailing list. If you like what you see and would like to learn more about how to win more grants in less time, then this is the list for you. Click here to join the mailing list!

What Is a Data Management Plan? Do I Need One?

A recent survey revealed that most researchers are not experienced in writing data management plans, nor are they getting institutional support or training on the topic. Never fear—tools and resources are freely available to your research team!

A recent survey revealed that most researchers are not experienced in writing data management plans, nor are they getting institutional support or training on the topic. Never fear—tools and resources are freely available to your research team!

DMPs outline how data from a funded study will be collected, stored, archived, and shared, and they are now required as part of funding applications by funders (public and private) around the globe. Each funder has its own requirements and expectations, and institutions have additional guidelines for their researchers. Some researchers may find they have copyright or ethical issues to consider, and private companies applying for funding will likely have their own guidelines and prohibitions against sharing proprietary data.

In other words, writing a DMP is not, in most cases, a simple matter of filling out a template. Developing and writing a thorough, competitive DMP can be a challenging task, especially for those who are unfamiliar with the process (whether they are a seasoned researcher or a newbie).

If you are applying for research funding, a DMP plan is most likely in your immediate future. If institutions are not providing training and guidance to researchers on how to develop a DMP, what is a research team to do? One tool that will get you started is the DMPTool. The tool includes templates and sample DMP plans, with a wizard that will walk you through the writing process and offer strategic advice as you progress through the process. Importantly, over 200 institutions are working with the DMPTool and integrating their guidelines into the tool, so research teams can develop a plan specific not only to the agency to which they are applying but also to their institution’s guidelines.

Still unsure of how it all fits together? Although there have been many useful articles written on the topic in the past few years, Nature published a great article this month titled Data Management Made Simple (by Quirin Schiermeier), and its 12 tips for writing a DMP plan will provide insight to all but the most veteran DMP writers. I have also posted a page of DMP development resources the DMP writer may find useful (links to data sharing guidance, data sets, data standards, etc.) on the Strategic Grantsmanship blog and will be adding to the list as new resources become available.

In my experience people can be in quite a rush to get their research going and they tend to “black box” the things they don’t understand or want to deal with, like the DMP, for as long as they can in the hope that things will magically work themselves out as the research moves forward. Sometimes it does, but more often researchers find themselves with unhappy biostatisticians and archiving issues. Writing a DMP plan while simultaneously writing a research plan can feel overwhelming, but for research teams that take advantage of the new tools and myriad resources now available for DMP development and writing, the process is faster and easier than ever.

This article originally appeared in the Strategic Grantsmanship blog’s newsletter, Strategic Grantsmanship News (15 March 2017 issue). If you found this article informative, subscribe to Strategic Grantsmanship News by joining the mailing list and receive the latest strategies and information directly to your Inbox.

Post-submission Strategy, Revisited

Last week, the NIH Office of Extramural Research posted a brief blog entry about the submission of patent citations post-submission. However, I found the blog entry left out a key bit of strategy that I share with you here.

Last week, the NIH Office of Extramural Research (the office that handles funding for researchers external to the NIH, which has its own intramural scientists and funding opportunities as well) posted a brief blog entry about the submission of patent citations post-submission (meaning, after the application has already been submitted) in its Extramural Nexus blog. However, I found the blog entry left out a key bit of strategy that I thought I would share with you here. Continue reading “Post-submission Strategy, Revisited”

4 Submission Strategies (Easy!)

“The submission process is the culmination of weeks and months of hard work by you and your team. Although you may feel “so done” with it all, submission is not the point at which to get careless and leave things to the quiddities of fate. Follow the simple rules outlined here and you will find submissions less likely to induce anxiety.”

For some, grant submission induces more anxiety than the writing of the proposal itself. I am sympathetic. I have been writing, editing, and consulting on grants for many years, but before pressing “submit” I compulsively check fonts, measure margins, and scrutinize PDFs for possible errors caused by document conversion. These are the things that keep me up at night, so today I have some brief grant submission strategies based on questions I have recently been asked.

Continue reading “4 Submission Strategies (Easy!)”

Updating Your Business Plan–Whether You Are a Small Business or a Researcher

The business and funding climate constantly changes, so updating your business plan allows you to identify the key elements of success and objectively assess the current state of those elements in your business.

Around this time every year, I update my business plan and encourage my collaborators–whether business or scientific–to do the same. The business and funding climate constantly changes, so updating your business plan allows you to identify the key elements of success and objectively assess the current state of those elements in your business. This topic has gotten a little more traction than usual this autumn with the buzz around the proposed changes to the US federal tax code (which look to have a number of direct and indirect impacts on independent consultants and remote employees), so I thought I would write a brief post of encouragement with some tips and resources. Continue reading “Updating Your Business Plan–Whether You Are a Small Business or a Researcher”

How to Find Research Funding Opportunities: A Quick Start Guide

01_grant-funding

Source: grants.nih.gov

It’s the first week of the New Year, and the government offices are back up and running. Funding announcements are beginning to trickle out again, and you can see mention of them popping up here and there. But where are the definitive lists of these opportunities posted when they are published? If you are trying to jump start your grant writing in the New Year but don’t know where to start,  this quick start guide will point you in the right direction so you can review the opportunities as soon as they are published.

Continue reading “How to Find Research Funding Opportunities: A Quick Start Guide”

Where to Find Sample Grant Applications (and How to Use Them)

sample
NIH/NIAID

Today, we support your New Year’s resolution to buckle down on grant writing by offering you information about where to find sample applications and how to use them:

When training people to write grants, I use examples and am often asked by my clients for sample proposals. Obviously, my client proposals are confidential, so sharing them is absolutely out of the question. I don’t even talk about my projects with my family, I’m a vault. So the question still stands, where can you find good sample applications?

Some grant writing books have samples, but usually they are discrete sections of the application, and context can be lost. That doesn’t help the new grant writer get the sense of how the sections of the application all fit together. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) web site has a very well thought-out grant preparation section that you should definitely investigate, but it lacks samples as well. However, one of the NIH’s institutes, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has an application development section with sample applications and summary statements for R01, R03, R21, R21/R33, and F31 opportunities, and sample applications for the SBIR/STTR applications: R41, R42, R43, and R44.

These are samples of well-written applications, or, as NIAID puts it, “sound examples of good grantsmanship.” However, some of these sample applications were written in response to older opportunities, and so they may not reflect the current form sets or requirements. Their value, as the value of any sample of writing should be, is not in detailed “copying” of the approach, but in demonstrating how ideas are articulated in each section and how the sections hang together to form the complete application.

Where can using sample applications go wrong? Seeing these or any other writing examples as “templates” is a mistake. As the saying goes, you do you. Also, reading the sample applications without reading the sample summary statements leaves you with half the story. Take the time to read the feedback on the sample–it will give you great insight into what the reviewers like and dislike in applications.

Other Sample Materials

The page has other samples you will likely find useful, including a sample data sharing plan and sample model organism sharing plans. Links to the NIH’s biographical sketch samples will also be useful to most grant writers, if they haven’t found them already at the NIH site. I review NIH biosketch strategies in several places on this blog.

One Last Thought

Ask your mentor and members of your department who have had success in grant writing if they have any proposals you may review and use as a guide for your own proposals. Of course, keep in mind that under US law each proposal is automatically copyrighted and the academic rules regarding plagiarism apply (of course). And, while you are asking, it wouldn’t hurt to ask if those trusted colleagues would be willing to review your application and offer feedback. Your grant application should have ample internal review by multiple people in and outside of your discipline before submission. But that’s a topic for another blog entry.

 

 

New NIH Post-submission Materials Guidelines

You can update your NIH application post-submission. Read on to learn how (and for what circumstances).

A glacier cave located on the Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina. (Photo credit: Martin St-Amant – Wikipedia – CC-BY-SA-3.0)

While the focus of my job is the time period before the application deadline, I do spend a considerable amount of time managing clients’ expectations and anxieties in that time between application submission and review. The timescale of grants can seem glacial to those who are new to the grant funding process, and so much can happen in the career of a researcher or to a research project between the time a grant application is submitted and the time it is reviewed. This applies equally to academic researchers and private sector researchers, because, although the SBIR/STTR timeline is shorter than the R01 timeline, for example, small businesses tend to have less of a financial cushion and a tighter timeline than academic research programs. When something good (promotion! publication!) or bad (loss of an animal colony due to natural disaster) happens, what can you do? Most people do presume that they can (and should!) contact the agency in the case of a natural disaster, but are at a loss over the ability to communicate less dramatic happenings, like publication. What many applicants don’t realize is that there is a mechanism by which they may update their applications post-submission. This is the topic of today’s blog, so take a deep cleansing breath, release that anxiety, and read on.

Continue reading “New NIH Post-submission Materials Guidelines”