Times West Virginian
Published: February 23, 2007

Small-business development boosted

INNOVA has been awarded grant of more than $260,000.

By: Jessica Legge

FAIRMONT — With the assistance of a grant, the INNOVA Commercialization Group will promote small-business development and build its tools.

The Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation recently awarded a grant of more than $260,000 to INNOVA, an initiative of the West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation based in Fairmont. The grant will support the Small Business Innovation Research program.

“There is a demand for these kind of services in the state,” Guy Peduto, commercialization manager of INNOVA and program manager of SBIR, said. “We can bring tools and resources that weren’t readily available prior to this grant.”

Through a partnership between INNOVA and the West Virginia Small Business Development Center, the SBIR program offers technical assistance and resources to small companies in the state.

Eleven federal agencies set aside a portion of their research and development budget to provide the grants, Peduto said. This funding allows small firms to conduct technology-based research in various fields, Greg Clutter, director of INNOVA, said.

“If (small businesses) have a technology or they are working on a technology that they believe would be beneficial to one of the agencies, it gives them an outlet to pursue research dollars,” Peduto said. “It also gives them a source of funding to help them grow and sustain their research efforts.”

Clutter said the SBIR program is part of INNOVA’s commercialization, start-up and business support services. INNOVA also has other tools to help small businesses. It makes early-stage capital investments and provides entrepreneurial education and networking through the FastTrac programs and the West Virginia Venture Capital Expo.

“Our overall goal here in West Virginia is to create successful entrepreneurs and new ventures,” Clutter said.