Small Business Innovation Research

The SBIR/STTR programs are congressionally mandated and intended to support scientific excellence and technological innovation through the investment of federal research funds to build a strong national economy by stimulating technological innovation in the private sector; strengthening the role of small business in meeting federal research and development needs; increasing the commercial application of federally supported research results; and fostering and encouraging participation by socially and economically disadvantaged and women-owned small businesses. Further, the objective of the STTR program is to stimulate formal cooperative partnerships of ideas and technologies between small businesses and nonprofit research institutions (e.g., Universities, Federal Laboratories).