Events and Trainings

2026 America's Seed Fund Summit

July 1st - July 29th

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is pleased to announce America’s Seed Fund Summit, taking place throughout July 2026. The Summit includes in-person and virtual events connecting entrepreneurs, innovators, and researchers from across the country to the SBIR and STTR programs, also known as America's Seed Fund.

What to expect:

• Free, virtual programming hosted by SBA each Wednesday (2-3 PM CT) in July to support your America’s Seed Fund journey (topics subject to change):
  • July 1: SBIR Fundamentals and Navigating Agency Differences
  • July 8: Protecting Your Innovation
  • July 15: Funding and Resources to Support Your Commercialization Journey
  • July 22: SBIR Turns 44! 4+ Decades of Impact and Small Business Success
  • July 29: Meet the Program Directors

Learn More

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Applications for the 2026 Hardware Accelerator

Application Deadline: July 31, 2026

The Hardware-Focused Manufacturing Accelerator is a 10-week, in-person dual-use accelerator designed for hardware companies preparing to scale from early prototypes to full production at commercial and Department of War (DoW) levels. The program delivers advanced manufacturing mentorship, dual-use commercialization training, and access to Kansas’ production ecosystem to ensure founders gain the readiness, rigor, and relationships required to scale confidently.  

What Companies Gain:

• Weekly 1:1 manufacturing coaching and MRL uplift.
• Stronger DoW pathways and federal contracting strategy.
• Commercial and enterprise sales development.
• Capital preparation and direct investor access.
• Introductions to primes, neo-primes, integrators, suppliers, and program offices.
• Improved manufacturing readiness, quality systems, and production planning.
• Increased visibility across defense and commercial markets.

Who Should Apply: Seed–Series A dual-use hardware companies with TRL 6+ products, demonstrable traction (revenue, grants, SBIR/STTR, pilots), and technology serving both commercial and government applications. Companies should be preparing for scale, manufacturing maturation, and structured go-to-market expansion.  

Program Timeline:

• Application Deadline: Jul. 31, 2026
• Acceptance Notifications: Aug. 7, 2026
• Program: Sep. 2 - Nov. 5, 2026

Location: Wichita, KS

Learn More

Fall 2026 WSU I-Corps Cohort

Monday's, Aug. 17th - Sep. 28th | Deadline to Apply: Sunday, Aug. 2

I-Corps has experts that help guide innovators and entrepreneurs through a customer discovery process to test your assumptions about the market, customers, and problems. Learn more about the customer discovery process, business model canvas, and how to integrate findings to bring your innovation closer to market. I-Corps will provide teams with up to $2,000 to help with customer discovery efforts. This funding is awarded to support team-based customer discovery research aimed at investigating the commercial viability of a product.

Who can apply: All researchers and entrepreneurs in the region, including students, researchers, faculty and community entrepreneurs with deep technology ideas to bring to market. Are you ready to learn more about I-Corps? Visit our website to learn how the program can help develop ideas, how to sign up, and about our expert instructors and mentors.

Schedule: Mondays Aug. 17-Sept. 28 | Noon-3 p.m. (virtual)

Application Deadline: Sunday, Aug. 2

Learn More

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SBIR/STTR Webinar: Inside America's Seed Fund 

Thursday, August 13th | 1pm CT

Thinking about applying for NSF SBIR/STTR funding? Start here.