Having won grants for other people’s companies as a scientist/ employee and for companies that I have co-founded or founded myself I have seen first-hand the impact that such grants can bring in hiring people, developing technologies, (whether software, molecules, or in making other discoveries), building companies and enabling the creation of intellectual property.

Many of you will need to know how to write and submit grants repeatedly for most of your career. It is almost inevitable that as an academic or a small business owner, you will need to write grants at some point. Writing them though is not enough, what you also need to know is how to win grants. Your proposal must stand out, it must connect with the reviewers in a positive way and make an impression. You therefore need to not only think about continually writing great grants you need to put it into practice. Having written and won grants totaling close to $30M from the NIH and DOD over the past 18 years I can speak with some degree of authority. I will focus on small business grants (SBIR and STTR) and how these can be won to ultimately build companies and create intellectual property.

Learning Objectives
You can learn from my experience writing and winning grants highlighted in my new book “Winning Grants”. I will explain what you need to do before you write a grant, describe why its important to have a good idea. Deciding whether you should do a grant solo or collaborate is also important. As an entrepreneur there are tips you will learn to help your proposal shine. Ultimately the grant package you submit is the key, but writing is only the start before iterative editing steps. Knowing when the grant is ready to submit is also critical because you could continuously edit it. Once you have submitted a grant there are even more steps you can take to help you to win the grant. You will also learn from case studies I will provide on what it takes to win.

Sean Ekins, Ph.D., D.Sc.
Sean is founder and CEO of Collaborations Pharmaceuticals, Inc. which is focused on using machine learning approaches for rare and neglected disease drug discovery. Sean graduated from the University of Aberdeen; receiving his M.Sc., Ph.D. in Clinical Pharmacology and D.Sc. in Science. He has authored or co-authored >350 peer reviewed papers, book chapters, edited 5 books on different aspects of drug discovery research. He has recently published a book on Winning Grants. Coverage of his research has also appeared in the Economist, Financial Times and Washington Post.