Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs (US)

Topic Areas

• They fund almost all areas of technology:
  • Each year, they fund companies across nearly all technology areas and market sectors (with the exception of clinical trials and schedule I controlled substances).
  • Topic Areas:
    • Advanced Manufacturing
    • Advanced Materials
    • Advanced Systems for Scalable Analytics
    • Agricultural Technologies
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Augmented Virtual and Mixed Reality
    • Biological Technologies
    • Biomedical Technologies
    • Chemical Technologies
    • Cloud and High-Performance Computing
    • Cybersecurity and Authentication
    • Digital Health
    • Emerging Technologies
    • Energy Technologies
    • Environmental Technologies
    • Human-Computer Interaction
    • Instrumentation and Hardware Systems
    • Internet of Things
    • Learning and Cognition Technologies
    • Medical Devices
    • Mobility
    • Nanotechnology
    • Other Topics
    • Pharmaceutical Technologies
    • Photonics
    • Power Management
    • Quantum Information Technologies
    • Robotics
    • Semiconductors
    • Space
    • Wireless Technologies

Funding Information

• 5-7 months after the submission deadline
  • They’ll notify you whether your proposal is accepted or declined. Official communications about the status of your proposal will be via email to the address listed for the project’s Principal Investigator (PI). If your proposal is awarded, you’ll receive funding of up to $305,000. Access to most of the award funds will happen at the time of the award notification.
• If your technology needs more development — and if you’ve made strong progress in Phase I — you can apply for more funding. Phase II awardees receive up to $1,250,000 over two years and become eligible to apply for several supplemental funding opportunities.

What do they look for when determining which startups to fund?

• Impact
  • Your innovation could make a difference to people worldwide or revolutionize an industry.
• Technological Innovation
  • You need research and development funding to create new products, services, and other scalable solutions based on fundamental science or engineering. NSF does not fund straightforward engineering or incremental product development tasks.
• Market Pull
  • You have evidence that your product or service could meet an important, unmet need for your customers.
• Scale
  • If you successfully bring your product or service to market, it could form the foundation for a scalable business and make a large impact in your target market.

Eligibility Criteria

• Type of Firm
  • An SBIR/STTR small business awardee must be a business concern – it must be organized as a for‐profit concern and meet all the otherrequirements for a “business concern”. Non‐profit entities are not eligible (except as research institution partners with an otherwise eligible applicant concern under the STTR Program).
  • If an awardee is a joint venture, each party to the joint venture must be a concern that satisfies all program eligibility requirements regarding type, size, ownership, and control. The only exception is for an SBA approved Mentor-Protégé small business joint venture formed.
• Ownership & Control
  • The ownership requirement: A majority (more than 50%) of your firms’ equity (e.g., stock) must be directly owned and controlled by one of the following:
  • One or more individuals who are citizens or permanent resident aliens of the U.S.,
  • Other for-profit small business concerns (each of which is directly owned and controlled by individuals who are citizens or permanent resident aliens of the U.S.).
  • This includes a single VCOC, HF, or PEF that is itself a small business concern which is more than 50% directly owned and controlled by individuals who are U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens of the U.S.
  • A combination of the scenarios presented in (1) and (2) above.
  • Multiple VCOCs, HFs, PEFs, or any combination of these, so long as no one such firm owns or controls more than 50% of the equity.
• Size
  • The size requirement: An SBIR/STTR awardee, together with its affiliates, must not have more than 500 employees.

For more information, visit NSF.