Small Business Innovation Research Program

Floor Speech

Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, if I could begin in the spirit of morning business, I am here to talk about the importance of passing the reauthorization of the Small Business Innovation Research Program. I think it is important because our future economic prosperity depends on whether this country can continue to be a leader in science and innovation. We can't compete with India and China for those low-wage manufacturing jobs. That is not the future of America. Our future is to be the global leader in science and technology. America makes the best, most innovative products and services, and that ingenuity and excellence is our chief economic strength as a nation.

As a former small business owner, I know it is business and not government that creates jobs, but I also know government has a critical role to play in fostering a positive business climate. I believe there are a few things we need to do to unleash the innovative spirit that is so alive and well throughout this country, and particularly in my home State of New Hampshire.

To maintain the creative dominance that has allowed us to lead the world in innovation, we do need to enact a long-term reauthorization of the Small Business Innovation Research Program, or the SBIR Program.

SBIR is not just a typical grant program. Under the SBIR Program a small business is able to compete for research that Federal agencies need to accomplish their missions--agencies such as the Department of Defense. Small businesses employ about one-third of America's scientists and engineers and produce more patents than large businesses and universities. Yet small business receives only about 4 percent of Federal research and development dollars. SBIR ensures that small business gets a tiny fraction of existing Federal research dollars.

In the last few months, as we have been talking about the SBIR Program in the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee on which I serve, I have had the chance to visit a number of New Hampshire companies that are doing cutting-edge research and are growing their businesses because of the SBIR Program. This research has allowed them to develop new products and customers and to hire new workers. I wish to talk specifically about one of those companies because they have such a great story. It is a company called Airex, and it is in Somersworth, NH. Their story shows just how the SBIR Program encourages innovation and creates jobs.

When I visited Airex, I had a chance to see some of the impressive technologies the company has developed. Airex specializes in electromagnetic motors and components. As they explained to me, their motors don't go round and round, they go back and forth. Its employees design and produce everything from motors used to make Apple's iPad, to gyroscopic coils that are used to stabilize the artillery system on Abrams tanks. So they produce a wide divergence of products.

In the past decade Airex has more than doubled its revenues and its workforce largely because of the products it developed with the support of the SBIR Program. Jim Sedgewick, who is the President of Airex, told me SBIR was critically important for the development of the products that enabled the company to add several good-paying jobs in New Hampshire.

For example, Airex was able to compete for and win a grant to do research for the Air Force on materials needed for strategic missile defense. In order to conduct the research Airex had to develop a new electromagnetic motor. Since the motor that Airex developed had tremendous commercial potential, Airex secured a patent. Now that motor is used in the production process for the Apple iPad and, as my colleagues can imagine, sales for that motor have increased dramatically in recent years as the iPad has become so popular.

The same is true for several other products Airex developed with the help of SBIR. Airex products continue to be in high demand not just in America but across the world. Exports now account for 30 percent of Airex's revenues, so they are a great story on the export front too. Airex told me its biggest export products are the ones that were developed with the support of the SBIR Program.

If we are going to out-compete and out-innovate the rest of the world, we need to encourage the kind of innovation that has made Airex so successful. SBIR was integral to making Airex's success a reality. That is why SBIR must continue to be an important part of our strategy for staying competitive in the 21st century.

Airex is just one of many New Hampshire small businesses that have successfully competed for SBIR funding in the 28 years the program has been in existence. All across New Hampshire small businesses that otherwise wouldn't be able to compete for Federal R&D funding have won competitive grants to advance technology and science and create good jobs. In just the last 2 years New Hampshire firms have won 80 SBIR awards. In fact, despite its small size, although it is a little bigger than Delaware, as the Presiding Officer knows, New Hampshire is ranked 22nd in the Nation for total grants awarded through the Department of Defense since SBIR began.

So I know the Presiding Officer knows we need to focus on smart ways to create jobs and stay competitive. We all know small firms are where the jobs are created in the United States, and we know the future of the American economy rests with innovation. The SBIR Program must be one important part of our overall strategy to encourage the innovation that will keep the American economy strong through the 21st century.

So I am pleased to be here to support SBIR, and I encourage all of our colleagues to join me in supporting this important program.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. I note the absence of a quorum.

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