WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) reintroduced legislation to help small businesses commercialize and scale up production of their technologies. The Research Advancing to Market Production (RAMP) for Innovators Act would support American innovation by expediting the application processes for two federal small business technology programs, making small business federal grantees eligible for fast-tracked U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) services, and improving technical and business assistance. Senator Coons is a member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. A companion bill was introduced in the House by Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) and Congressman Troy Balderson (R-Ohio).

“The RAMP for Innovators Act will drive job growth and strengthen economic security for states like Delaware whose economies are built upon the innovation, creativity, and cutting-edge research of small businesses,” said Senator Coons. “As a member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, I am glad to reintroduce this bipartisan legislation that makes it easier for small businesses and startups to access the technical and business support to commercialize their brilliant ideas and keep America competitive and secure in the 21st century.”

“The pandemic highlighted America’s supply chain vulnerabilities and our overreliance on countries like China. It is more important than ever that we harness the strength and ingenuity of small businesses across the country to scale up our domestic manufacturing and innovation. This legislation would help startups and other small business innovators access federal research and development dollars, protect their intellectual property, and commercialize,” said Senator Rubio.

“We have amazing small businesses across our commonwealth and country, but without some support from the federal government, some of these businesses may struggle to thrive and survive,” said Congresswoman Houlahan. “We must continue to provide essential support to our innovative entrepreneurs to ensure they can succeed. The RAMP for Innovators Act will provide our small business owners access to resources to implement and commercialize new ideas, as well as faster access to capital and better protection of their intellectual property. As an entrepreneur myself, I know there are many challenges to operationalizing a great idea to becoming a salable and marketable product, so I’m proud to lead on this bipartisan, bicameral legislation to support small business owners.”

“America has long been the world’s leader in research and development of new tech innovations. The vulnerabilities of supply chain disruptions and overreliance on foreign producers has led to a renewed bipartisan commitment to reclaiming our role in production, too,” said Congressman Balderson. “I am proud to join my colleagues, at this critical moment for our country, to reintroduce the RAMP for Innovators Act, which ensures our best and brightest minds in the tech sector have the resources necessary to bring new concepts to market and in turn create jobs and begin production here in America.”

The RAMP for Innovators Act builds on the success of two well-regarded, competitive federal programs for developing small business innovation: the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. The two programs are managed by the U.S. Small Business Administration and are often called “America’s seed fund.”

The RAMP for Innovators Act would:

    Accelerate the evaluation timeline for SBIR/STTR applications and consider technology commercialization potential in grant decisions;

    Expand the allowable uses of grant funds, including bringing new products or services to market through production, distribution, marketing, sales, or other means;

    Reduce the average time from research project to marketable product by streamlining the application process;

    Provide agencies with a fast-track option for qualified projects that demonstrate commercial potential;

    Provide reliable technical assistance and support to grantees to bring their new products or services to market across all agencies; and

    Provide accelerated patent pipelines for SBIR/STTR grantees.

Throughout his time in office, Senator Coons has championed high-tech small businesses and innovative entrepreneurs across Delaware. Last month, he introduced the Supporting Small Business Career and Technical Education Act to strengthen the supply of skilled trade workers across the United States and connect them to high-demand, good-paying jobs. In December, he introduced the SCORE for Small Business Act to reauthorize and improve the SCORE program to provide small businesses with mentoring, training, and local workshops.

This bill has been endorsed by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the Small Business Technology Council, the University City Science Center, and the Delaware Small Business Development Center.

“ITIF supports RAMP for Innovators, the Research Advancing to Market Production for Innovators Act, which will further bolster the commercialization potential of SBIR/STTR programs through improvements such as making commercialization potential a stronger consideration in project selection, clarifying that all awardees may use a share of Phase I and II funds for commercially oriented activities, and supporting the ability of innovators to secure intellectual property rights underpinning their inventions through stronger linkages with the PTO,” said Dr. Rob Atkinson, President of ITIF.

“The University City Science Center heartily endorses the Research Advancing to Market Production for Innovators Act introduced by Senators Coons and Rubio and Representatives Houlahan and Balderson. This legislation would codify language that has already been signed into law to ensure that commercialization is central to the goals of SBIR and STTR. The RAMP for Innovators Act fulfills the mission of the 2016 SBIR/STTR recommendations from the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE) at the Department of Commerce. I was honored to serve as a member of NACIE during this time and believe these recommendations are necessary to fulfill our commercialization needs in this country,”said Tiffany Wilson, CEO of the University City Science Center.

“The RAMP for Innovators Act will further strengthen the commercialization opportunities from SBIR and STTR, and will enact several key changes to help small businesses better transition their technologies to the marketplace,” said Jere Glover, Executive Director of the Small Business Technology Council.