We help researchers and founders turn lab discoveries into viable companies and competitive grant proposals. We also build public directories of campus talent and write interactive reports on research funding.
ARA's research directories, built in partnership with the Arkansas Research Alliance.
We work with university research offices and statewide networks to make faculty expertise and shared lab instruments easy for outside companies and collaborators to search.
Helps companies and research teams find faculty collaborators and co-investigators across Arkansas campuses.
Search Research ExpertiseARA's research directories, built in partnership with the Arkansas Research Alliance, sit alongside Resource Compass, our directory of regional support programs.
Free Public ToolEntrepreneurship & Small Business Support
A free directory of 168 small business and startup support organizations across Arkansas. Anyone can search by stage, industry, and region to find mentors, funding programs, and incubators.
Live DirectoryAn Arkansas Research Alliance activity, built in partnership with ARA
Working with the Arkansas Research Alliance, we built ARA's searchable directory of faculty research profiles across 19 Arkansas institutions, drawn from public grants and publications.
Shared-Use SearchAn Arkansas Research Alliance activity, built in partnership with ARA
Built in partnership with the Arkansas Research Alliance, ARA's directory makes 544 scientific instruments in 55 shared core facilities at 11 Arkansas institutions easier to locate.
We combine direct advisory with public software tools so promising research finds funding and does not get stuck in academic silos.
University expertise and specialized testing equipment are often hard to find, scattered across departmental pages and PDFs.
In partnership with the Arkansas Research Alliance, we built ARA's public directories of Arkansas researchers and shared core equipment.
Strong technical teams can miss out on funding when a proposal reads like an academic paper instead of a commercial plan.
Having reviewed 100+ SBIR/STTR proposals, we help teams shape commercialization plans and review drafts before submission.
Founders and research teams often struggle to find the right incubators, mentors, and regional support programs.
We work with the Arkansas Research Alliance to support AR-NETWORK, and built Resource Compass to help founders find support.
Decades of public research funding and outcomes often sit in spreadsheets that boards and legislators can't easily explore.
We build self-contained web reports that tie institutional records to public sources such as NIH RePORTER, NSF, and USAspending.
Turning multi-year program data into interactive public reports and helping researchers and founders compete for federal R&D funding.
Interactive Public ReportWe organized 24 years of Arkansas Biosciences Institute appropriations, grants, publications, and clinical trials into a public interactive report, checking records against data from NIH RePORTER, NSF, and USAspending.
100+ Proposals ReviewedIn partnership with Science Venture Studio, we help technical founders find open solicitations, write clear commercialization sections, and refine proposal drafts.
EPSCoR & Regional StrategyWe work with the Arkansas Research Alliance to support AR-NETWORK, an EPSCoR-funded network building research collaboration across Arkansas campuses and industry partners.
Grant strategy, searchable web tools, impact reporting, and practical advisory grounded in firsthand research and startup experience.
Full support for non-dilutive R&D funding: finding the right solicitation, shaping a clear commercial narrative, technical editing, and budget justification. We write with the reviewer in mind because we have served as reviewers.
We build practical web tools (like Resource Compass and our research directories) that make regional support programs, university expertise, and shared lab equipment easier to search and use.
We turn years of appropriation, award, publication, and clinical-trial records into interactive web reports that boards, lawmakers, and the public can explore—with the source of each figure documented.
We help design and support innovation programs tailored to regional strengths—including incubator models, challenge competitions, and mentorship pipelines built around real stakeholder needs.
We help institutions strengthen tech-transfer practices, build faculty entrepreneurship programs, and connect campus research strengths to commercial opportunities—with close attention to emerging research campuses.
We advise agencies and boards on grant program design, technical proposal evaluation, and impact assessment. We understand how federal and state programs work from both the applicant and reviewer sides.
Blackberry Briar is a consulting firm in Fayetteville, Arkansas, founded by physicist and entrepreneur Douglas Hutchings, Ph.D. We help researchers and founders apply for federal R&D grants, and we build public tools that make university expertise and lab resources easier to find.
Doug has helped build three companies. One won an Edison Award and Department of Energy funding before falling short of its Series B. One merged with an optical coatings firm. One is bootstrapped and profitable. We bring that firsthand experience with both successes and setbacks to every project, clearing obstacles so teams can focus on their work.
We have reviewed more than 100 SBIR/STTR and federal proposals across multiple agencies, and written successful applications to NSF, DOE, and EDA programs.
Before planning a commercial rollout, we examine the underlying technical data and intellectual property position.
Having reviewed more than 100 federal proposals, we focus on the specific criteria and concerns evaluators address.
When static lists and spreadsheets are not enough, we build simple, public search tools like Resource Compass.
We document the sources behind report figures and check award records against NIH RePORTER, NSF, and USAspending.
We help early-stage teams and university spinouts prepare NSF SBIR/STTR proposals, drawing on experience as both applicants and reviewers. We also work with the Arkansas Research Alliance to support an EPSCoR-funded research network.
An EPSCoR-funded network building research collaboration across Arkansas institutions. We support it through our work with the Arkansas Research Alliance.
Explore AR-NETWORKDescribe your funding or commercialization goal, or choose an example below, to generate an initial draft of next steps.
We work with university research offices, state agencies and boards, and science-based startups. Tell us about your goal, funding deadline, or program.
We reply within one to two business days.
A short call to understand your goals, timeline, and whether our background is a good fit.
We treat unpublished university research, grant drafts, and technical data with strict confidentiality.
Headquartered in Northwest Arkansas, serving universities, boards, and ventures across the U.S. and EPSCoR states.
Based in Fayetteville, Arkansas. We work with clients across the state and nationwide on research commercialization, grant strategy, and public impact data.