Roland Tibbetts Chairman SEARCH Corporation 655 Mine Ridge Road Great Falls, VA 22066
Tel: 703-759-5302 Fax 703-759-9778 E-mail: search1@ix.netcom.com

The concept of SBIR, with its primary focus on technological innovation and commercial application, was initially conceived and managed by Roland in National Science Foundation between 1977-81. With a similar small-scale effort in DOD, these early awards and achieved results by SBIR involved small firms became the model in 1983 for extension of the SBIR concept by Congress to all those agencies of the federal government which support the conduct of leading edge technological research. In effect, passage of the SBIR enabling legislation opened up federal R&D arena to the capabilities of qualified small firms in an unprecedented way. Collectively, these agencies (currently ten (10)) support more than 90 percent the R&D funded by the federal government.

SBIR is a unique three-phase R&D program focusing on innovation and the use of small high technology firms to meet federal agency R&D needs. During Phase I - always referenced by Roland as fly-before-you-buy - the small firms is given a small amount of money (in the early days, $25K) for a six-month, preliminary feasibility effort. A percentage of the best and most promising projects continue into Phase II, generally lasting up to two-years. In this period, the shift is towards advancement of the technology and development to prototype. Both these periods - Phase I and Phase II - are federally funded. This work is followed by non-SBIR dollars, generally privately funded Phase III effort during which to pursue the R&D results into technological innovation and commercial applications.

A recent analysis of fifty SBIR commercial projects in NSF show that over $9 billion of SBIR related sales have been generated along with something over $900 million of private investment. As a point of reference, Roland points out, sales in these fifty projects alone were three times the entire NSF expenditures on SBIR from 1977-1995. In those same firms, which reported 1254 jobs at the time of their first NSF SBIR research was awarded, the study showed 10,000 new jobs had been created.

The impact of SBIR extends to the creation of hundreds of small high tech firms, some of which have achieved major technological breakthroughs; many have generated significant new technology and products. Government-wide, 40,000 SBIR research R&D awards totaling $6 billion have been made to date to almost 9,000 companies. In part on the basis of very favorably General Accounting Office studies of the program, in 1992 SBIR was extended by Congress through the year 2000 and increased significantly in size. The annual budget across all ten participating agencies is now $1.1 billion.

Prior to joining the National Science Foundation as SBIR Program Manager, from 1970, Roland was Vice president of Logetronics, Inc, a Springfield, VA. manufacturer of graphic arts industry automatic film processors and cameras with 350 employees. Between 1959-1969, he was Vice president and director, Hazleton Laboratories, Inc, Vienna, VA. a life sciences R&D firm which grew from 175 to 600 employees during this period prior to being acquired by TRW in 1968. From 1959-1964 Roland was a founder, treasurer and director, Allied Capital Corporation, Washington, DC, one of the nation's first and most successful Small Business Investment Companies (SBIC's).

Roland was President and director, Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, VA (1968-1969); Chairman, Northern Virginia Comprehensive Health Planning Council (1969-1970); Executive vice president, US Junior Chamber of Commerce (1955-1958). He has been Director of five small companies, and is still in that capacity with two firms. He also now serves as Advisor' Small Business Technology Coalition, Palo Alto, CA.

Roland attended the University of Cincinnati from 1942-1943. He received his BS from Boston University in 1948 and MBA from Harvard Business School in 1951.

In reverse order, national honors he has received include recognition as an SBIR Pioneer by the Small Business Administration for SBIR and Technological Innovation in June l996. In 1995, he was presented the National SBIR Award, US Small Business Administration and received the Director's Superior Accomplishment Award from the National Science Foundation. He was also awarded the NSF Special Achievement Award and Outstanding Performance Awards 1980-94. In 1984, he was presented the Franklin-Jefferson Science, Technology, Innovation Award by the Small Business High Technology Institute. He also counts among his honors the awarding of the Distinguished Flying Cross, 4 Air Medals (Europe) in 1944-1945.