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24 June 2010
New Mexico Small Business Assistance Program is looking for small business owners who believe their companies could get a boost from technical assistance provided by researchers at Sandia or Los Alamos national laboratories.The program is a partnership of the two federal laboratories & the state of New Mexico that connects scientists, engineers & others with New Mexico businesses to solve critical challenges & promote economic development.
The NMSBA Program is soliciting ideas for individual projects from for-profit small businesses in New Mexico. Interested entrepreneurs may call Genaro Montoya at (505) 284-0625 or find out more about the program at http://www.nmsbaprogram.org.
The assistance provided cannot be available in the private sector at a reasonable cost, and the program does not provide cash or equipment to small businesses.
Individual companies in urban Bernalillo County are eligible for up to $10,000 in assistance per calendar year measured in lab staff hours. Companies located in rural counties are eligible for up to $20,000 per calendar year.
Companies participating in the program don’t have to be technological in nature. Previous participants have included a spa, a decorative light fixtures company and a firm that salvages and restores wooden doors.
The NMSBA Program also contracts with the New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NM MEP), the University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University and New Mexico Tech to provide assistance to companies.
Since the program began at Sandia in 2000, it has helped 1,597 small businesses and created or retained 1,020 jobs paying an average annual salary of $39,063 through 2008. The businesses’ revenue increased by nearly $39.7 million and their operating costs fell by more than $28 million during the same nine-year period.
Sandia National Laboratories is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.
