What are SBIR and STTR? Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) are U.S. Government programs in which federal agencies with large research and development budgets set aside a small fraction of their funding to be competitively awarded to small businesses. The small businesses that win awards through these programs are encouraged to commercialize the technology and also retain the rights to any technology that they develop.

A 1982 study found that although small businesses had 2.5 times as many innovations per employee as large businesses, large businesses were nearly 3 times as likely to receive government assistance. The SBIR Program was subsequently established to meet the research and development needs of the federal agencies by providing funding to small businesses to stimulate technological innovation. A decade later, the STTR program was launched. The major difference between the two programs is that STTR projects must involve at least 30 percent cooperative research collaboration between the small business and a non-profit research institution.

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