All too often, great ideas that could change and improve our daily lives fall to the wayside, merely because the company's founders do not understand the intricacies of securing financing or lack the direction necessary to bring an idea to market.

It's an unfortunate pitfall, but there is hope.

Along with VITAL, there are several other programs that are working in tandem to provide both Virginia and Israeli companies with adequate funding and direction for their commercial initiatives.

Two options that are available include the BIRD Foundation and The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Both organizations can provide entrepreneurs with the finances and resources necessary to take the first step in growing your business.

The Israel-U.S. Bi-national Industrial Research and Development Foundation - or BIRD Foundation - was established by the U.S. and Israel to generate cooperation between the American private sector and Israeli high-tech industries. The organization's primary mission is to stimulate, promote and support industrial R&D to the mutual benefit of the U.S. and Israel.

BIRD provides financial support for up to 50 percent of project development and product commercialization costs for both start-ups and established companies. The foundation operates by making an initial investment, ranging from $500,000 to $1 million over a 2-3 year period or $100,000 for partnerships that last a year or less.

When a company applies, BIRD matches the strengths of the company’s business with the strengths of others, with the primary objective of developing a partnership that completes a product.

A company's willingness to share in the financial risk of product development, as well as in the financial gain of commercialization, are also key factors in BIRD's acceptance process. Often, the role of the larger company involves product definition and specification, sales and service, while the role of the smaller company entails product development and some manufacturing.

The BIRD Foundation supports up to 35 projects each year, and has put forth an investment of more than $180 million into more than 600 projects over the past 25 years. Its success has been measured by the fact that these projects have produced sales revenues of more than $7 billion.

Recent Virginia-Israeli projects that have been backed by the BIRD Foundation include the American Red Cross of Alexandria, Virginia (www.alexandriaredcross.org), which teamed up with Kamada, Ltd. (www.kamada.com), an Israeli pharmaceuticals company, for a project in life sciences. The BIRD Foundation also funded a project between SER Solutions, Inc. (www.sersolutions.com), of Dulles, Virginia and Merlynet Communication Systems, Ltd. (www.merlynet.com) of Or Yehuda in Israel.

For more information on seeking funding from the BIRD Foundation, log on to www.birdf.com.

Another important resource is the National Institute of Standards and Technology - or NIST, a non-regulatory federal agency within the U.S. Commerce Department's Technology Administration. Its mission is to develop and promote measurements, standards and technology to enhance productivity and facilitate trade.

NIST funds industrial and academic research through a variety of initiatives. The Advanced Technology Program co-funds high-risk, high-payoff projects with industry; while the Small Business Innovation Research Program funds R&D proposals from small businesses.

NIST also awards grants that support research at industry, academic and other institutions. For more information on working with NIST, contact Joyce Brigham at 301.975.6329 or log on to www.nist.gov.