Tech company mentorship program expands to Las Vegas
CARSON CITY – The Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED), working with both of the state’s major universities, expanded the SAGE program to help small businesses earn federal grant funding.
The SAGE program, short for Sierra Accelerator for Growth and Entrepreneurship, helps technology entrepreneurs in the early stage of business development and innovation. SAGE puts businesses through the competitive Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant programs with two phases of funding ranging from $225,000 to $750,000.
The University of Nevada, Reno launched SAGE in 2019 with funding through the Federal And State Technology Partnership. University of Nevada, Las Vegas will launch SAGE with funding from GOED’s Knowledge Fund. It’s key activities are mentorship and technical support, helping businesses navigate and succeed within the federal grant submission system.
“Supporting small technology-based businesses is currently more important than ever for high paying job creation in our state,” said Nevada Lieutenant Governor Kate Marshall, adding that SBIR/STTR grants “have proven to be crucial funding mechanisms for enabling fast business up-scaling and job creation.”
To date, the SAGE program at UNR has worked with more than 30 companies and put more than 100 individuals through trainings, resulting in 12 SBIR and STTR proposals submitted.
SAGE is open to all qualified Nevada technology-based small businesses with fewer than 500 employees. Community entrepreneurs or university-based entrepreneurs, whether faculty, staff or students, may bring their business concepts to the SAGE team for initial review. Get started with SAGE by visiting the Sage North website or the SAGE South website and submitting basic information about your business or innovation.
As part of SAGE’s on-going information series, “SAGE Advice,” free informational webinars are being offered on Dec. 1, 2 and 3. For more information or to register, visit the SAGE events web page.
