The STEP Business Partnership Grants competition (STEP BPG), conducted by the U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation (CRDF) and the Ministry of Education and Science (MES) promotes research and development (R&D) partnerships between companies (Company) and teams of scientists (Science Team) to develop new commercial opportunities of economic benefit to both parties.

STEP BPG projects must have research and development (R&D) as their core task and must include a preliminary market assessment; a customer needs analysis, and business development components. Projects that demonstrate their ability to enable revenue creation and/or attract non-STEP Partner organization sources of funding will be given priority consideration in the selection process. All goals and outcomes of the projects must be well defined and measurable.

STEP BPG projects are limited to a maximum of 12 months. Funds for projects are provided by the CRDF and MES. Funds are limited to $24,000. All funds must be used for Science Team expenses. In support of the goals of the Business Partnership Grant competition to increase the number of linkages between the science and business sectors, preference will be given to newly-formed science- business partnerships. Preference will also be given to projects with at least 10% company cash contribution.

Complete proposals must be submitted to CRDF via the Electronic Proposal Submission Web Site (EPS) and e-mailed to the CRDFUkraine office by (18:00) local time by the dates indicated below to be eligible. Please see the submission requirements section for further information. Grants will be awarded subject to the availability of funds.

At the first stage of the STEP Program 2009, two workshops will be carried out in Lviv and Sevastopol, Ukraine which will provide basic training on technology commercialization, and intellectual property protection. Workshops will also further clarify STEP program goals and objectives and will introduce the BPG competition terms and conditions.

The deadline for submission of proposals is December 20, 2009.The top applications will be chosen by a group of technical and business reviewers during Phase 1 and named as Semi-Finalists. These Semi-Finalists will receive training to perfect thier business plans and be invisted to the Venture Forum. At the Venture Forum, the Semi-Finalists will be given an opportunity to present their technology, product, or service to a panel of local businesses, business support agencies and government organizations. The best projects will be selected as Finalists by the appointed panel and awarded during the conference.

The evaluation process consists of the following steps:

1. Screening for eligibility and completeness
2. Panel Review for commercial and technical merit
3. MES review for scientific value and innovation
4. CRDF review and recommendation
5. Joint selection of the best proposals by January 31, 2010
6. Training and Mentoring
7. Business Plan Presentations by the finalists at the Venture Conference in March/April 2010

Please see the complete Program Announcement, Application, and Budget below for more information.

Please contact step@crdf.org with questions.

Download: 

STEP BPG Program Announcement (118K) [download]
BPG Ukraine Application 2009 (343K) [download]