Understanding How Federal Grants Can Help Your Business

More than $4 billion is available each year through SBIR/STTR grants for small businesses developing new technologies. Learn who qualifies, how to navigate the process, and whether it fits your company.
What we’ll cover:
- How SBIR/STTR works and who qualifies
- Finding the right agency and topic for your technology
- Evaluating your fit and commercialization readiness
- Building a strategy, including university partners
What you’ll leave with:
- Whether SBIR/STTR fits your company
- A framework for evaluating opportunities
- Next steps: which agency to target and how to search topics
- Questions to ask before you invest in an application
If you are a founder or executive at a company researching new technologies that any federal agency could use, you’ll miss a significant funding opportunity to scale your company.
Meet our presenter: Jack Henkel, COO, Florida High Tech Corridor
As the COO, Jack works with Corridor leadership to support both day-to-day operations and the long-term strategic growth of the Cenfluence initiative. A veteran ecosystem builder, Jack has been a member of The Corridor team since 2021; prior to that, his career took him to the International Business Innovation Association and University of Central Florida Venture Accelerator.
Jack also works directly with innovative companies through two programs. He serves as Senior Cluster Manager for the Gaming, Entertainment and Immersive Technology cluster, providing tailored guidance to cluster members, and as Program Manager for the Florida Federal & State Technology Partnership Program (FL FAST), delivering programming across Florida related to R&D funding through the SBIR/STTR program.
Jack, a native of Jacksonville, is a three-degree holder of the University of Central Florida with dual bachelor’s degrees in marketing and finance and an MBA