The House Science Committee has introduced a new piece of legislation (HR 2981) that would strip 20% of STTR funds (about the same amount the STTR was increased by in the last reauthorization) and redirect that money to a new program called The TRANSFER Act. This legislation would set up small programs at a few select universities to fund transfer and maturation of promising technologies. Our biggest objection with this bill are taking money away from a program that already succeeds in transfering technology in the STTR and using it to fund an untested, unproven concept that may or may not work. Small Businesses historically are much better at transferring technology than universities despite receiving less than a tenth of the federal R&D funding, so it makes no sense to take money away from small businesses to give to universities.
SBTC Comments on HR 2981 “The TRANSFER Act”