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>> Historically, Oklahoma companies and research institutions have underperformed in the SBIR and STTR federal funding program relative to many other states in the nation. So what OCAST did was we developed a brand new program called OSCR to help those organizations successfully compete for SBIR funding. 
>> The SBIR program is very competitive and so if you have some people that know what make a good application and know how to write the quality application and it's very clear for the researchers and the reviewers, then it really increases your chances of success. 
>> One of the services that the OSCR program provides is our pre-review service. So OSCR has identified reviewers who are technical experts and commercialization experts who can read through a proposal, provide meaningful commentary which improves the quality of an organizations proposal before it's submitted for official review. 
>> It's really helping to raise the bar on the quality of work that we're doing. And the most important part to me has been that critical review where we're getting very good critical analysis of what we're doing, feedback early on before it goes to the customer, before it goes to a DOD reviewer or a SBIR reviewer. We're getting that ahead of time and it's changing the way we think about you know our planning, our layout of our proposals. It's been incredibly valuable for us. 
>> Another key resource that the OSCR program provides is our proposal preparation service. So when it comes to writing an SBIR proposal, there's a lot of moving pieces that need to be put in place before you can submit a successful proposal. We help identify what those moving pieces are and how do you go about achieving those pieces. So for example letters of commitment, dealing with the budgets, identifying who the right team members are and how to attract those team members, well OSCR helps pull together some of these moving pieces. So it's not a service that helps you write the proposal, it's a getting you ready to write service. 
>> The OSCR program was invaluable to me and my company because whenever you're going through an SBIR proposal and you're looking at the requirements and the application and just the tremendous scope of the program, it's important to have a guide. Being an independent businessman I don't have time to go and try to learn everything there is to know about a program. I need somebody that has been through the program before, understands what the people are looking for that review the applications and can give me guidance. And the OSCR program did that exact thing: They helped me find my way through the red tape and the burden of applying for and submitting a good application. Without the OSCR program I don't know that I would have undertaken an SBIR application. 
>> I think at OCAST we see the OSCR program as an evolution to the OCAST funding programs and what I mean by that is we hope that organizations can successfully leverage the OCAST funding to attract higher level funding opportunities, whether that's at the federal level, or even through the private sector investment opportunities. 
>> A lot of states will just give a little money, they'll just say ok you want to run an SBIR proposal here's a little money, go get some help or do it. And that's not always what you really need. The problem with high tech, especially with small business startup is getting critical review, critical help, giving just this breath of information. And it's not just domain specific, it's across the board and always OCAST has been an amazing source of information, advice, just a wide array of knowledge, it's sort of a one stop shop that when we need advice, if we need to get information they can do it. 
>> Because the OSCR program has successfully helped Oklahoma organizations compete for federal funding opportunities, that has enabled the OSCAR program to grow. So now there's more resources available in the program than ever before. So now we can engage with new companies competing for federal funding opportunities. 
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