Advancing Women And underRepresented Entrepreneurs (AWARE): ACCelerating Entrepreneurial succeSS (ACCESS): Building Innovation Capacity through Diversity

这个加速妇女和代表不足的企业家（AWARE）的更广泛的影响，促进创业能力（ACCESS）项目是积极参与创业代表不足的群体，并通过利用不同人群的宝贵知识资本来提高美国的科技竞争力，以建立创新能力。 该计划是专门设计来扩大参与和教师，工作人员，博士后研究员和学生从代表性不足的人口访问（定义为女性、非裔美国人、西班牙裔/拉丁裔、亚裔美国人、美洲原住民）参与商业化，丰富交流机制，促进包容性创业，并提高妇女和代表性不足的企业家的竞争力，以成功地确保小企业创新研究/小企业技术转移研究（SBIR/STTR）。 该计划将支持和参与妇女和代表性不足的创新者，通过将其技术产品商业化，将其发现付诸实践。意识：ACCESS计划将使妇女和代表性不足的创新者成为成功的企业家，并扩大新的模式，增加新兴技术进入市场的渠道。 创业创新者的多元化将提供更广泛的宝贵资源网络？从而增进科学和技术知识，增加国家培养有能力、训练有素的技术企业家的渠道。拟议的项目解决了妇女和少数民族创新者在获得SBIR/STTR资金方面取得的不成比例的有限成功，尽管他们在一般人口，STEM毕业生和企业主中占很大比例。该方案的四个目标是：1）确定、吸引、鼓励和指导妇女和代表性不足的创新者将创业视为一条职业道路; 2）扩大妇女和代表性不足的企业家获得教育、经验和网络机会的机会; 3）增加这些创新者申请SBIR/STTR的数量并提高其竞争力; 4）与其他机构分享最佳做法，以创建一个区域生态系统，为创业女性和代表性不足的创新者提供诱人、有益的经验和氛围。这些目标将通过六个关键组成部分的协同互动来实现：1）创新创业资源中心; 2）企业家人才匹配系列; 3）赠款写作援助计划; 4）双零阶段补充计划; 5）商业化和创业峰会;以及，6）向社区推广和分享成功故事。拟议的项目将培养一支训练有素、以商业为导向的妇女和代表性不足的创新者骨干队伍，他们可以激励其他人参与SBIR/STTR过程并取得成功，并融入创新生态系统和社区。

The broader impact of this Accelerating Women And underRepresented Entrepreneurs (AWARE) ACCelerating Entrepreneurial succeSS (ACCESS) project is to proactively engage underrepresented groups in entrepreneurship and increase the science and technology oriented competitiveness of the U.S. by harnessing the valuable intellectual capital of diverse populations to build innovation capacity. The program is specially designed to broaden participation and access of faculty, staff, post-doctoral fellows and students from underrepresented populations (defined as female, African American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian American, Native American) in commercialization, enrich communication mechanisms to promote inclusive entrepreneurship, and enhance the competitiveness of women and underrepresented entrepreneurs to succeed in securing Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer Research (SBIR/STTR) funding. The program will support and engage women and underrepresented innovators on the benefits of moving their discoveries into practice through commercialization of their technology-based products. The AWARE: ACCESS program will empower women and underrepresented innovators to be successful entrepreneurs as well as expand a new paradigm for increasing the pipeline of emerging technologies to the marketplace. A diversification of entrepreneurial innovators will provide a wider network of valuable resources ? thereby enhancing scientific and technological knowledge and increasing the national pipeline of enabled, well-trained technology entrepreneurs. The proposed project addresses the disproportionately limited success that women and minority innovators have had in securing SBIR/STTR funds even though they represent a significant share of the general population, STEM graduates and business owners. The four goals of this program are to: 1) identify, engage, encourage, and mentor women and underrepresented innovators to consider entrepreneurship as a career path; 2) expand access for women and underrepresented entrepreneurs to educational, experiential and networking opportunities; 3) increase the volume and enhance competitiveness of the SBIR/STTR applications of these innovators; and, 4) share best practices with other institutions to create a regional ecosystem that provides an inviting, rewarding experience and climate for entrepreneurial women and underrepresented innovators. These goals will be achieved through the synergistic interaction of six key components: 1) An Innovation Entrepreneurship Resource Center; 2) Entrepreneur talent matching series; 3) Grant writing assistance program; 4) Phase Double Zero supplement program; 5) Commercialization and Entrepreneurship Summit; and, 6) Outreach and sharing of success stories to the community. The proposed project will develop a cadre of well-trained, entrepreneurial-oriented women and underrepresented innovators who can inspire others toward engaging and succeeding in the SBIR/STTR process and assimilate into the innovation ecosystem and community.