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During a recent visit to Pittsburgh, President Obama promised to provide small-to-medium manufacturers with the tooling they need to help themselves. “I can’t rent the Space Shuttle to you,” he joked, “but there are areas where we can enhance what is already being done by companies like TechShop,” a Steel City business that is lending production tools and equipment to local manufacturers.
On that same day, the White House announced that the Administration would offer entrepreneurs easier access to high-tech resources at more than 700 federal R&D facilities, including NASA’s National Center for Advanced Manufacturing in New Orleans. To speed the development of innovative materials, five federal agencies will also spend more than $150-million to support the Material Genome Initiative.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has awarded the Research Foundation for the State University of New York (SUNY) more than $90,000 as part of its Federal and State Technology (FAST) partnership program. Designed to stimulate the growth of technology-driven companies, FAST requires participating states such as New York to provide matching funds for awarded amounts.
According to SBA, FAST helps small, “socially and economically disadvantaged” firms to compete in SBA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. SBIR supports technological innovation and scientific excellence. STTR promotes partnerships between small businesses and leading universities and non-profit research institutions.