White House Council Calls for Small Businesses

Recently, UTC has been invited to participate on White House Council monthly calls. Last month David Kappos, the Undersecretary of Commerce for IP spoke. The USPTO is trying to reduce costs, process patents faster and get the other processes under control. The time to grant has been reduced from 37 to 33 months so some progress has been made. Their intention is that no great invention should go without patent protection, so they just launched the first pro bono patent program for very small companies in Minnesota leveraging attorneys who will do the work pro bono. He suggested forming alliances and partnerships with Chinese companies in the same field you are in if you are contemplating going into that market. He said the second and third tier cities are trying to help in the area of protecting IP.

The Trademark Assistance number is 1-800-786-9199

They also discussed the Startup America Partnership – a public/private partnership utilizing the SBA fund and connecting mentors and entrepreneurs. The website is startupamericapartnership.org. DOE, DOVA and DOC are working with clean tech startups.

The August call discussed access to capital. It was suggested to go to sba.gov/direct + your zipcode to see what programs are available in your area. It was suggested to make contact with your local SBA office and get to know them so you will be in front of the changes government is making to help small businesses. If you have problems taking advantage of the programs offered, ask your district representative to forward your call to Washington as they want to hear the problems businesses are having accessing these programs. You can also contact treasury.gov and then SSBI to learn more. If you have questions, contact pcjc@treasury.gov (President’s Council on Jobs & Competitiveness). You can also reach out to whbc@whol.eop.gov with suggestions and questions on access to capital.

One life science employer talked about how he is using OJT and TSEP programs where government subsidizes the pay of his workers. They put veterans and people who have been on welfare to work and pay for the cost of training them. He said it has helped him expand his business with reduced labor costs.

They talked about the Small Business Lending Program and the State Small Business Credit Initiative where all states will have money shortly. The government has made 17 tax cuts for small businesses.

Admin FirstName Admin LastName | 8/1/2011 8:45:19 AM | 0 Comments