SBIR Proposal Writing Basics: Addressing the “I” in SBIR

Gail & Jim Greenwood, Greenwood Consulting Group, Inc.  

Copyright © 2006 by Greenwood Consulting Group, Inc.

.The “I” in SBIR stands for “innovation.”  Therefore, it is probably not surprising that a common reviewer criticism of rejected SBIR Phase I proposals is they were not seen as being “innovative enough.”  This month, we want to explore this criticism and how to avoid it.  

We think a Phase I proposal might be considered non-innovative for several reasons.  First, the applicant may misunderstand the intent of the SBIR program:  after all, it isn’t every day that you find a funding program where you get criticized for not being sufficiently “far out” to attract the attention of the reviewers!  Second, the reviewer may conclude that the proposed project isn’t innovative, even though the proposer thinks that it is.  Third, the proposer may be playing hard to get:  we often see proposals where the writer seems to think they must beat around the bush, and force the reviewer to figure out  on his/her own that the project is innovative.  Fourth, a project may not reflect what others have done in the field lately, and therefore is no longer “innovative.”  And finally, maybe the reviewer agrees that the project is innovative, but its impact or importance is so meager that he/she criticizes it as non-innovative.  

The solution to the problem of not being innovative, then, depends on the source of the problem.  

If you misunderstood the intent of SBIR, then don’t submit a Phase I proposal unless you have an innovative solution to a pressing problem.  Just make sure you stay on the right side of the “innovative” vs “crazy” side of the fence.  

If you think the proposed project is innovative, but the reviewer may not, then you need to do a better job selling the reviewer on what is innovative.  You need to argue in the proposal why the project would be an innovative solution. What may seem like a major  difference to you may not be obvious to the reviewer, so explain what is new, different and unique about what you propose to do.  

If you are playing hard to get, then stop it.  Reviewers don’t have a lot of time to ponder all the data and information stuffed in a typical proposal, so they need your help:  in a clear and blunt statement, tell the reviewer why your project represents an innovative approach to an important problem.  Don’t hesitate to put this statement in a paragraph by itself, or underline it, to draw attention to it—make your reviewer’s job easier whenever you can.  

Make sure you are current in your knowledge of the state-of-the-art relative to your project.  There’s no excuse, in the mind of the reviewer, for you not knowing what others are doing in your field.  

Finally, don’t stop at telling the reviewer that your idea is innovative:  go the next important step and tell them why it matters.  This is the “so what?” test:  if the reviewer can’t see a compelling reason for funding your project, then it doesn’t matter how innovative it is.