Senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has announced the Investing in National Next-Generation Opportunities for Venture Acceleration and Technical Excellence, or INNOVATE, Act during the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship hearing.
The senator said Wednesday the bill aims to revamp the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. It is designed to cut red tape and facilitate the entry of small businesses and other new applicants into the defense industrial base.
Aside from streamlining processes, the INNOVATE Act is also meant to remove corporate welfare for mills and safeguard against intellectual property theft.
Key Provisions of the INNOVATE Act
The bill intends to reorient SBIR-STTR on merit-based seed funding by eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion preferences and requiring businesses with multiple awards to be commercially viable. In addition, the bill also reserves 2.5 percent of SBIR allocation for smaller, streamlined awards and empowers the Department of Defense to enhance promising technologies through long-term contracts using existing funds.
The INNOVATE Act clearly defines foreign risks allowing agencies to evaluate applicants and determine ties with foreign countries of concern. Furthermore, the bill also eliminates pilot programs that are underperforming. This will also restrict the number of proposals one company can submit each year.
“My legislation streamlines and simplifies existing processes, directs the funding toward projects based on merit, channels funding to help accelerate the most promising projects towards final stage commercialization, protects against waste and abuse and introduces enhanced protections and accountability tools to prevent these new technologies from getting into the hands of our foreign adversaries,” said Ernst.
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