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Ray Friesenhahn Honored as Tibbetts Award Winner
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Pictured from left: Jere Glover, JD, Executive Director, Small Business Technology Council; Ray Friesenhahn, SBIR Outreach Manager, TechLink; Roland Tibbetts, the person acknowledged as the father of the SBIR program.
BOZEMAN, Mont. -- The Small Business Technology Council announced that Ray Friesenhahn of TechLink, was selected as one of the winners of the 2007 National Tibbetts Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Small Business Innovation Research. Friesenhahn received the award on October 10 in Washington, D.C.
Named for Roland Tibbetts–the person acknowledged as the father of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program–these prestigious, national awards are made annually to those small firms, projects, organizations and individuals judged to exemplify the very best in SBIR achievement. Friesenhahn is one of 17 individuals in the U.S. to receive this award.
Friesenhahn is the SBIR Outreach Manager for the Montana State University TechLink center, which is funded primarily by the Department of Defense (DoD) to transfer technology from DoD labs to private industry. Among its services, TechLink assists companies in licensing technologies and securing R&D funding from the DoD and other federal agencies.
The SBIR program provides opportunities for small companies to compete for research and development funds from government agencies such as the Department of Defense and National Science Foundation. Friesenhahn’s proactive team approach to assisting companies in Montana and 11 other states in the West in competing for SBIR funds has roughly doubled the typical award rates for companies receiving assistance in this region and resulted in over 165 awards worth more than $84 million. In Montana alone, the efforts of Friesenhahn and his team have resulted in over 80 awards with a total value of more than $30 million. This has been achieved in a six-year period, beginning in 2001.
Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer lauded Friesenhahn’s efforts and stated that he has been a model partner to the state’s Technology Innovation Partnership program. In a statement submitted in support of Friesenhahn’s nomination for the Tibbetts Award, Governor Schweitzer said: “Ray’s leadership and cooperation have been major factors in why Montana is now ranked 2nd in the nation for Phase I SBIR/STTR awards relative to Gross State Product.” Friesenhahn’s nomination package included statements of support from U.S. Sen. Max Baucus and U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, in addition to university and state economic development leaders.
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