MSFast Mission
The Mississippi Federal & State Technology (MS-FAST) Partnership Program's aim is to provide encouragement and assistance to Mississippi's small high-tech businesses in participating in the federally funded Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs and the commercialization of technologies developed by businesses as a result of these programs.
MS-FAST Program now part of USM/BIAC
The Mississippi - Federal and State Technology Partnership program (MS-FAST) lead by The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) working with its Mississippi Research Consortium members: Jackson State University, Mississippi State University, The University of Mississippi and The University of Mississippi Medical Center, was established in 2001 to assist Mississippi’s small high-tech firms to better compete in the SBIR and STTR programs. Beginning in 2009, MS-FAST is now integrated under the newly formed USM - Business and Innovation Assistance Center, better known as USM/BIAC, located in Building 1103 - the Mississippi Technology Transfer Center - on the grounds of the NASA John C. Stennis Space Center (NASA-SSC) in Hancock County, MS. Innovate Mississippi, MS-FAST’s partner since its inception, remains MS-FAST’s key supporter.
As part of USM/BIAC, the MS-FAST Program will now operate with the functional support that a university “center” can provide and will benefit from its integrated relationship with USM/BIAC’s other programs and services as well as USM/BIAC’s larger network of strategic partners and supporters. Joe Graben, the MS-FAST Program Director, now serves as the Director of USM/BIAC.
What is USM/BIAC? USM/BIAC’s mantra is: Launching Innovation! USM/BIAC supports launching early stage technology R&D and innovation commercialization efforts by businesses, state/federal governments, universities and individuals that in turn are directed at fostering high-tech business growth and economic development within the state as well as supporting federal and state agencies in meeting their mission goals. It carries this out by identifying, networking and facilitating partnerships and opportunities among federal, state/university and private organizations that leverage their combined resources and capabilities in support of innovative technology development and commercialization.
USM/BIAC represents a set of programs, services and expertise that have organically grown from USM’s services that have for more than a decade provided support to the State’s universities, NASA’s and other federal agencies’ technology development and transfer programs and related efforts in working with small businesses, industry and other organizations in technology development and commercialization.
Under USM/BIAC, MS-FAST now has a website (http://www.usm.edu/biac/ms-fast.php) which includes a set of presentations providing useful information and links to online tools and tutorials explaining the federal SBIR-STTR programs, how to develop a Phase 1 proposal, the role of SBIR in the technology development and commercialization process and much more. The MS-FAST website under USM/BIAC is still under development and will continue to grow and will include in the near future an archive of the MS-FAST SBIR News Alert! newsletters.
MS-Fast is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.