In fiscal year 2021, the nationwide success rate of applicants for National Institutes of Health (NIH) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I awards decreased slightly from FY 2020. This continued a downward trend over recent years. The success rate for NIH SBIR/STTR Phase I was nearly 13 percent (647 of 5,132 approved) in FY 2021, a decrease from nearly 14 percent (636 of 4,684 approved) in FY 2020 and from nearly 16 percent for all proposals submitted over the past decade.

The federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, providing nearly $4 billion in technology research and development funding, expire — in just six weeks — on Sept. 30. Unlike many federal programs that regularly operate beyond the end of their authorization, there is no direct SBIR appropriation that will ensure the program continues as-is without congressional action. Instead, SBIR would be on an agency-by-agency basis.

States with top-ranking university AI research programs garner a greater number of Phase II AI-related SBIR awards, according to a working paper from the Department of Economics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Researchers there investigated state variations in the distribution of Phase II SBIR research projects focused on artificial intelligence (AI). The authors of the paper hypothesized that the state-by-state variations are related to the presence of a research university with a “Top 10” AI program in each state.

Accelerators, incubators and entrepreneurial assistance programs work to ensure their startups understand their product’s market competition, customers, and supply chain. As it turns out, that’s also good advice for small research-based firms trying to move from SBIR proof-of-concept funding to securing the larger Phase II awards.

A new open topic approach used by the U.S. Air Force in issuing Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards coincided with an overall increase in the agency’s SBIR/STTR participation figures and proposal processing times, according to a recent federal analysis. The U.S.

On Tuesday, the Senate passed a bill to extend the SBIR, STTR and related pilot programs through Sept. 30, 2025. The House is expected to act on the legislation next week, just ahead of the current expiration at the end of this month.

Entrepreneurs learned more about small business funding opportunities from federal agencies with Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs during America’s Seed Fund Week last week. The $4 billion funding program, which is currently up for reauthorization, is celebrating 40 years of providing funding to small businesses each year in a variety of technology areas.

The Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) program is often compared to the U.S. Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program. And, like the SBIR program, ISC has faced criticism from skeptics despite metrics that show the program delivers high returns on investment. When Canada’s Budget 2023 Initiative recommended reallocating 14.1 billion Canadian dollars (CAD) in federal spending, each Ministry was tasked to identify programs that did not address the government’s top priorities.

Answering the question of what impact a flat 15% F&A reimbursement rate would have on the nation’s SBIR startups requires real data. The data doesn’t currently exist that we are aware of.

A Feb.

A two-page proposal for a $40,000 Phase IA award? Phase II performance ratios required for companies receiving 10 and 25 Phase I awards over their lifetime? Halving the budget for STTR and shrinking university partner share? Creating a 0.25% carve-out of DOD SBIR funds for phase III awards up to $30M each? Limiting all federal technical assistance and outreach to 25 states with the fewest SBIR/STTR awards? Stronger, broader, tougher foreign risk requirements for the companies and agency due diligence? 

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is one of the federal government's most substantial investments for moving innovation from America’s small businesses into the private market or federal procurement in areas like defense, space, energy or transportation.