ASBTDC awarded $200,000 FAST grant

The Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center (ASBTDC) at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has received a $200,000 grant to provide outreach, education, and mentoring for technology-based startup companies in Arkansas.

ASBTDC was among 49 organizations that received a total of $9 million in funding from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to support startups through specialized training, mentoring, and technical assistance under the Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership program.

“At a time when we are seeing historic highs in our entrepreneurial activity with a small business boom, investing in America’s innovative startups is a top priority,” said Isabella Casillas Guzman, head of the Small Business Administration. ”America’s Seed Fund, powered by the SBA and fueled by 11 federal agencies’ SBIR and STTR programs, is the largest source of early-stage funding in the world. With FAST, we have now expanded our entrepreneurial ecosystem to nearly every state so that entrepreneurs with great ideas can invent it, commercialize it, and build it with America’s Seed Fund in every corner of America.”

The objective of the FAST program is to improve outcomes for underserved communities by increasing participation from woman-owned, rural-based, or socially or economically disadvantaged small businesses through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, which are known as America’s Seed Fund.

“We are honored to again receive the SBA’s FAST grant, which allows us to extend our support for Arkansas small businesses and innovators,” said Laura Fine, ASBTDC state director. “This funding enables us to reach more entrepreneurs across the state and empower them to pursue federal research funding opportunities through the SBIR/STTR programs.”

ASBTDC will use the FAST grant funding to guide research-based companies as they seek to commercialize new technologies. The center helps Arkansas companies prepare competitive America’s Seed Fund proposals for different federal agencies and apply for state-level technology commercialization funding. An important part of the application process is the deep market research ASBTDC provides about the state of the art and target industries.

In the next year, ASBTDC plans to mentor 60 entrepreneurs through one-on-one consulting and the Lab2Launch Accelerator, a program for Arkansas innovators seeking their first SBIR/STTR win.

Each accelerator cohort focuses on one federal agency. In 2025, ASBTDC is planning Lab2Launch Accelerator cohorts to assist companies with targeting funding available through the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, respectively.

The virtual format of the multi-week Lab2Launch Accelerator and educational programs, such as introductory webinars, agency-specific training, and annual accelHERate forums for women, provides access to innovators located anywhere in the state.

“ASBTDC looks forward to building on the success we’ve had through FAST, helping companies such as SMART Repro in Jonesboro and FR8relay in Bentonville access America’s Seed Fund,” Fine said. “This year, we are adding our regional office at the University of Arkansas to the FAST project to continue driving innovation and economic growth in Arkansas.”