When I was speaking at the BCIP conference in Toronto, the head of the BCIP program spoke. He told the audience that in the United States the government supports innovators from technology readiness level 1. For the BCIP program, you have to be at least at level 6 or 7. To put it in layman's terms, level 1 is basically an idea that could be just on a napkin—that's how far you've taken it. In the United States you can be only at that level, and they will fund you. They will take you all the way through to the end.
On December 7th, 2017. See this statement in context.