Research Advancing to Market Production for Innovators Act is back in Congress

DOVER, Del. – A bipartisan bill is coming back to Congress.

The Research Advancing to Market Production for Innovators Act, or RAMP, aims to support American innovation to remove some of the barriers of early development. Two U.S. senators, Chris Coons and Marco Rubio, have teamed up to sponsor and reintroduce this small business accelerator legislation to Congress. 

“In the coming years, small businesses in Sussex County that have some promising and innovative ideas will have a clearer pathway from participating in this grant program to commercializing their promising new products,” U.S. Sen. Coons says.

Senator Coons says the legislation will be a game changer for small businesses in Delaware.

“This will streamline the application process, help provide better support for small businesses who participate in the SBIR program, and give them expedited access to patent services that commercialization and marketing services,” U.S. Sen. Coons says.

Coons says the pandemic taught us that relying on supply chains from foreign countries is not a reliable prospect.

“Senator Rubio and I have worked on a number of pieces of legislation to help strengthen manufacturing, encourage on-shoring and near-shoring that reduces the vulnerability of the United States and Delaware in particular to extend its supply chains that link us back to China,” U.S. Coons says.

Experts say streamlining development and finding reliable supply chains are two of the biggest problems small businesses face. Deputy Director of The Delaware Division of Small Business, Laura Wisler, says the First State is the perfect example of how resource partners work together.

“Well going through any government process can be a lengthy time period,” Wisler said. “With those processes being streamlined it cuts down on the lost time, lost energy, and lost momentum that small businesses can have.”

Supporters of the legislation feel the bill will help small businesses leverage their ideas and turn them into real opportunities.

“We all work together to help small businesses to accelerate through the timeline it takes from beginning to end, whether it be to start here or commercialize their process and their output,” Wisler said.

Coons says the bill was initially delayed because a senator from Kentucky refused to have any business meetings in Congress with the chairman.

“In the last congress, frankly it was a committee that got almost nothing done because of an enduring dispute between the chair and the ranking member,” Coons said.

“In this congress, we have a new ranking member who is working better and more closely with the chairman,” U.S. Sen. Coons said. “We are optimistic that we are going to return to being a functional committee that takes up and moves forward legislation.”