Dear FAST/ROP Recipients,
Thanks to all of you have contacted your congressional delegation. By this time, you also received an email from Rich Shindell (www.zyn.com) regarding the Notes Section. I have included it below for some of you that may have not received it.
I have attached a proposed letter for your consideration.
I will try my best to keep you updated on the events as they occur.
Pat
Pat Dillon, MBA
Minnesota Project Innovation, Inc. (MPI)
Technology Innovation and Commercialization Center (TICC)
Minnesota Seed Capital Network (MSCN)
111 Third Avenue South
Suite 100
Minneapolis, MN 55401
(612) 347-6751
(612) 349-2603
www.mpi.org
Email from Rick:
Dear FAST and/or ROP Participant,
By now you should have received an email directly from Maurice Swinton of the SBA, explaining the current funding situation. You should also have received an email from Pat Dillon of the State SBIR/STTR Network. If you haven't received these emails, you can go to our FAST/ROP site at: http://www.zyn.com/sbir/fastrop/ to read them.
The State SBIR/STTR Network is a name for the FAST working group that was formed by the states to help unite and strengthen the overall program FAST/ROP efforts. Pat Dillon ( [email protected] ) is the communications chair and Marcene Sonneborn ( [email protected] ) is the group chair. This group will be meeting at the Albuquerque NM SBIR Conference, Tuesday, March 11, 2003.
The FAST/ROP site is for your use but not the general public. Please keep the site address of http://www.zyn.com/sbir/fastrop/ private so we don't have to initiate password protection.
We have added a "Notes from the Field" section to this site. This is a collection of comments that you send to us to be shared with the group. Although we could simply let a listserv handle this, most are unhappy when they become inundated with email, so we will try this method first to see how you like it. All you need do is check the site ( http://www.zyn.com/sbir/fastrop/othernotes1.htm ) at your own convenience and you will see comments that have been offered.
The site will also be a repository for important email distributions in case you missed or deleted an important message.
Although the group's intent is to build a coalition and to "speak with one voice", I believe the power of your individual state connections is of equal importance. The FAST and ROP seemed to have support of only one Senator, and no Congressmen. The one Senator backed out at the last moment and the programs were deleted from the budget. I suggest you use your state connections to try and win over YOUR Senators and Congressmen for FY2004. You can read on our site that some states are already putting this into motion. The greatest strength will be in your utilization of individual AND collective efforts.
Sincerely,
Rick Shindell
SBIR Gateway
Zyn Systems
360-681-4123
[email protected]
