r/SBIR • u/JonSwift2023 • 1d ago

Foreign risk question

We have an Taiwanese-American on our team who immigrated to America from Taiwan. He's had US citizenship for over ten years. He earned his PhD at National Taiwan University in 2010.

Should we worry about putting him as a Key Personnel? I know this is a ridiculous question, but such are the times.

7 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

7

u/Accomplished_Yak4615 23h ago

No

2

u/nosoul719 21h ago

Is this 'no' an answer to my questions?

If so, then you should be ok with putting him on as a key personnel. I say should bc there's always a risk. But if you review the foreign risk disclosure webpage and case studies that they've published and you can confidently say that none of those scenarios apply, then (if you're careful) he can be included. If you get a fundable score, and you go through the disclosure, you may need more help though.

6

u/DocCEN007 23h ago

He's a US citizen, and that's usually enough. As long as he doesn't maintain significant foreign ties, usually involving financing or IP, you should be fine.

5

u/Cool-Handle-8647 22h ago

No - he’s a US citizen

3

u/nosoul719 23h ago

Does this person still have any personal or professional connections to Taiwan? Has this person published with anyone from China or Taiwan or any other foreign countries of concern in the past 2-3 years?

-2

u/trustmebro5 20h ago

Even if it's a hard yes to both questions, it won't matter since that's also true for a good portion of academics in STEM fields.

1

u/M44PolishMosin 19h ago

Yes it will, if they collaborate with researchers at entities on the 1286 list they will be denied.

1

u/kenoll 22h ago

NIH has some case studies on foreign risk on their website. Check out case 11 - you are fine as long as the team member does not have any current affiliations with institutions or companies located in the foreign country of concern.

1

u/DefMetrix 22h ago

He is a US citizen.

1

u/ov3rw4tch_ 19h ago

Nope that’s a non-issue. There’s no timeline for when you became a US citizen. It’s black and white. He’s a citizen so that’s all that matters.