Small Business Innovation Research

If you’re interested in DARPA-related opportunities through the Department of Defense (DoD) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, DARPA’s Small Business Program Office (SBPO) is ready to help. To maximize your chances of success, please take the time to:

The following information provides guidance on Human and Animal Subjects for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR).

Congress established the SBIR Program in 1982 to provide opportunities for small businesses to participate in Federal government-sponsored research and development (R&D). The goals of the SBIR Program are to: stimulate technological innovation; use small business to meet Federal R&D needs; foster and encourage participation by socially and economically disadvantaged small business concerns (SBCs), and by SBCs that are 51 percent owned and controlled by women, in technological innovation; and increase private sector commercialization of innovations derived from Federal R&D, thereby increasing competition, productivity and economic growth.

Ms. Nichols started her 25-year career with the Department of Defense at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers where she held a variety of positions in financial management, personnel management, program analysis/management, computer information systems development, and training from 1988 until 2004.

By design, DARPA reaches for transformational change instead of incremental advances. But DARPA does not perform its engineering alchemy in isolation. It works within an innovation ecosystem that includes academic, corporate and governmental partners, with a constant focus on the Nation’s military Services, which work with DARPA to create new strategic opportunities and novel tactical options.