Powering progress: Arrowhead Center at NMSU program drives energy funding in NM

Original Article | Milica Tenic | tenic@nmsu.edu | April 9, 2024

Securing research and development funding for innovative solutions with high-impact potential can be a daunting task for newly formed startups. The federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs provide a pathway for small businesses to secure non-dilutive federal investment, awarding more than $4 billion in funding annually.

The 11 federal agencies participating in these programs all have specific requirements for startups to navigate. The New Mexico Federal and State Technology (NM FAST) partnership program provides support to regional technology focused startups as they approach federal agencies providing these R&D funding opportunties. The NM FAST program aims to provide support across industries aligning with New Mexico’s growing technology ecosystem including agricultural-, defense-, bioscience -and energy-focused startups. As energy-focused opportunities have grown in New Mexico, so has Arrowhead Center at New Mexico State University’s support of the energy technology ecosystem.

“New Mexico’s energy tech ecosystem stands on a strong foundation of innovation and sustainability, driving the transition towards a greener future,” said Dana Catron, deputy director of Arrowhead Center and director of the NM Clean Energy Resilience and Growth Cluster. “We have statewide assets that include national labs and research institutions, favorable policies and human capital that foster advancements in energy technologies ,and prove environmental stewardship and technological innovation can coexist.”

Since its establishment in 2015, NM FAST has been instrumental in assisting more than 350 businesses across New Mexico, aiding them in securing more than $21 million in SBIR/STTR awards. NM FAST’s mission is to reach underserved communities and entrepreneurs that are in the early stages of business and product development. A key NM FAST client and outreach partner, Aperi CMC, has leveraged NM FAST’s ecosystem and support to secure their first Department of Energy SBIR award.

Aperi CMC is an engineering consulting firm dedicated to “democratizing state-of-the-art modeling and simulation technology for small, underprivileged companies at a fraction of the current cost," said founder Megan Ford, who is confident that affordable simulation technology will benefit future tech startups. Aperi aims to bring this technology to market via open-source finite element analysis software.

"NM FAST has assisted in securing multiple funding streams and establishing critical networks, including facilitating Aperi's participation in key conferences," Ford said.

With NM FAST’s support, Aperi secured SBIR funds for a specialized simulation library that leverages new theories reducing simulation time and costs. Aperi also accessed New Mexico Small Business funds for consulting and code development with experts at Sandia National Laboratories.

“NM FAST has been critical to the early success of Aperi,” Ford said.

So far in 2024, NM FAST has supported clients in securing more than $3.1 million in Phase I and II awards from the Department of Energy. Services provided by NM FAST are uniquely tailored for each client and range from solicitation matching, budget crafting, proposal development, and financial support through microgrants.

NM FAST creates intentional programming to meet the needs of the diverse startup ecosystem within New Mexico. In addition to personalized support, the program holds accelerators focused on introducing startups to SBIR/STTR programs and agency specific support. The program also has an experienced grant writing team to support a startup’s proposal development journey and boosts their competitiveness for initial SBIR awards.

The next session of NM FAST’s SBIR 101 Accelerator will launch this month. The five-week program will introduce to startups the SBIR/STTR funding avenues, proposal requirements and writing techniques, agency review criteria, and technical support that can be found across the state. Startups will graduate from the accelerator with an initial SBIR/STTR agency match to support their developmental efforts. Information on the accelerator may be found at https://bit.ly/NMFAST_ACSA.

NM FAST remains committed to fostering innovation and empowering small businesses, and looks forward to continuing support of New Mexico’s flourishing technology ecosystem. To learn more about NM FAST and its support structure, visit https://arrowheadcenter.nmsu.edu/program/nm-fast/ or contact Milica Tenic at tenic@nmsu.edu. For more information about Aperi CMC and their offerrings, visit https://www.apericmc.com/.