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What is so unique and important about small business is it is representative of a 

 very diverse group of business owners and entrepreneurs. I believe small business 

 fosters the participation of many groups of Americans often under-represented in the 

 business community. Like many of the Small Business Administration programs, the 

 SBIR program offers opportunities to small businesses that without such a program 

 would never have a chance of developing or marketing their products or services. 



The Small Business Technology Transfer program, which I had the privilege of 

 including in the Small Business Research and Development Enhancement Act of 1992, 

 is an important step in creating important partnerships between the research and small 

 business communities. The STTR program complements the SBIR program in that it 

 capitalizes on a vast new reservoir of commercially-promising ideas which originated 

 in universities, federal laboratories, and nonprofit research institutions. While both 

 programs are separate and distinct, they both harness the ability of small businesses to 

 innovate and commercialize research. 



I believe the STTR has been successful in its mission to create a strong 

 incentive for researchers and small companies to find each other and work together. 

 Researchers, research institutions and small businesses, by working with one another, 

 can take advantage of STTR funding and the many opportunities that come along with 

 it. This program brings people together in order to help foster business and a better 

 and more advanced tomorrow. 



The STTR program supplies funding at the most critical point in technology 

 commercialization - before investors are willing to make risk investments, and after 

 Government research funding sources consider the project too commercial to fund. 

 For too many years, our nation's technology languished in this gap only to be 

 recognized by foreign competitors and developed abroad. As the STTR program 

 continues to grow and develop, it has the potential to strengthen our nation's 

 competitiveness in the world market. 



Thank you again to Chairman Torkildsen for holding today's hearing, and for 

 sharing interest in these two programs designed to foster small business participation 

 in meeting the research and development needs of the federal government. I hope 

 Congress and the Administration will continue to see the benefits the SBIR and STTR 

 programs have had on everyone involved. By continuing to bring government and the 

 small business community together, we create jobs for today while we create 

 technology and innovation for tomorrow. 



