AFWERX Industry Innovation Days 2023 Recap

Marion Square’s Co-Founders Harvey Morrison and Greg Imahara attended the recently completed AFWERX Innovation Conference held in San Antonio Texas.  (2023 Innovation Industry Days (eventsquid.com))

The conference was attended by over 100 innovative technology companies that are interested in the AFWERX/SpaceWerx SBIR/STTR programs and key program offices inside of both AFWERX and SpaceWerx.

One key takeaway from this conference is that the ecosystem for these organizations and programs is continuing to grow at an amazing rate.  Key highlights from the conference included:

• AFWERX SBIR Funding for FY 23 is $1.3B. 

• AFWERX will continue to fund both specific ($500M) and open topics ($500M) along with Stratfi and Tactfi proposals ($300M). 

• AFWERX estimates they will award a total of 1700 SBIR contracts in FY 23 and increase over FY 22 1600 number.

This years conference also included a program overview from SpaceWerx, which is rolling out its SBIR/STTR program very similar to the AFWERX program.  SpaceWerx program highlights include:

• $400M budget for FY 23

• Like AFWERX, SpaceWerx will also have both a specific and open topic

• SpaceWerx anticipates awarding up to 1500 contacts in FY 23

Small, innovative companies should include SBIR/STTR programs as a part of their overall go to market strategy for Government.  These programs are a great source of non-dilutive funding and a great way to earn Government credibility which will open doors and drive business across all of Government. In order to qualify for these programs’ organizations must meet 3 criteria:

• Be a for profit company

• US Based

• Less than 500 employees

If you have questions or would like to talk more about how to integrate the SBIR/STTR programs into your overall Government go to market, please connect with us at Marion Square.