Jenya, I'm at a University. In general a business can get a SBIR grant -- money to take an idea and develop it into a marketable product/technology.
Gera, this is not a research grant. This grant was specifically targeted to involve 10 undergraduate students per year to experience how research is done work in research groups in our University and in other major research labs. We pick the students who are either first in their families to go to college or others who generally don't imagine themselves having a career in high-tech/science. We educate them first (for free -- neither grant nor our salaries cover this) and then guide them during their work. For which they get a stipend.
If you consider this a waste, you have absolutely no idea how to get a young person decent education that s/he can apply in real world after graduation.