Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program: Federal Funding for R&D

SBIR can fund a small business to develop a technical solution that matches a federal research need. Start with an open topic and its agency solicitation, then decide whether your team can perform the required research. This is competitive project funding through a grant or contract, not an automatic business-startup grant.

SBIR and STTR were reauthorized in April 2026 through September 30, 2031. Authorization does not mean every agency has an open application at every time. Find a topic through the funding-opportunity search, then use the issuing agency’s current solicitation, amendments, deadline, and submission portal.

Check the Business and Research Team

• Business: The applicant must be a qualifying U.S. for-profit small business, generally with no more than 500 employees including affiliates. Ownership and control rules generally require more than 50% qualifying ownership by U.S. citizens, permanent resident aliens, or qualifying U.S. small businesses. Special venture-capital ownership routes are available only under specified SBIR agency rules; do not assume a funding structure accepted by one agency is accepted by another.
• Research location: Research generally must be performed in the United States. A foreign collaborator, investor, affiliation, or research commitment needs the required disclosures and may affect eligibility or security review.
• Principal investigator: The PI normally must spend more than half of their employment time with the small business at award and throughout the project. A faculty member retaining a primary full-time university appointment usually does not meet that rule without a permitted agency exception. Check employment and effort requirements before naming the PI.
• Work performed by your business: Normally perform at least two-thirds of Phase I research and at least half of Phase II research. Consultants and research partners can do the remainder within the solicitation’s rules. An exception requires the agency’s permitted written approval.

If the project depends on a university doing a substantial share and formally transferring technology, compare STTR. Adding a university partner does not remove SBIR’s business-work or PI requirements.

Choose a Phase and Build the Budget

There is no single nationwide award amount or duration you should put into every proposal. Use the actual solicitation’s budget and period, including any approved topic waiver. Some agencies offer Fast-Track or Direct-to-Phase-II routes with additional evidence and eligibility requirements.

Build costs from the experiments and milestones: personnel effort, materials, equipment use, consultants, subawards, indirect costs, and any permitted fee. Apply the agency’s work-share calculation before submitting. A Phase I plan that outsources most of the technical work cannot satisfy the normal two-thirds business-work rule just because the applicant owns the company.

What You Retain and What You Must Protect

SBIR funding does not require the government to take an equity stake. That does not mean all research results are free of government rights. Inventions and technical data have separate notice, reporting, license, and marking obligations under the award. Qualifying SBIR data have a protection period, generally at least 20 years from award, when the required conditions and markings are met.

Review the actual agreement before delivering proprietary data or signing research subcontracts. Record which material existed before the award, what was developed under it, who owns an invention, and what rights the government receives. Non-dilutive funding is different from a promise that no one else has any rights in the results.

Apply to the Issuing Agency

1. Find a topic you can answer. Search SBIR topics and read the current agency notice. Compare your technology with the specific need, evaluation criteria, eligibility date, and permitted budget. Follow the notice’s rules for pre-proposal questions.
2. Complete required registrations early. Check active SAM registration and the Unique Entity Identifier, the SBA Company Registry, and the agency’s submission system. For example, NSF uses Research.gov and requires a Project Pitch invitation for its Phase I full proposal; other agencies use different routes.
3. Prepare the technical and commercial case. Explain the uncertainty, proposed experiments, success criteria, team roles, customer need, and path to a usable product. Include the required budget, ownership information, prior-award information, and foreign-affiliation disclosures.
4. Check before submission. Match the work share, PI employment, registrations, attachments, page limits, and topic number to the actual solicitation. Submit to the issuing agency before its deadline and keep the confirmation.
5. Follow the decision and award terms. Check status with the agency’s program or grants/contracts contact. If selected, confirm negotiated scope, reporting, payment terms, intellectual-property conditions, and any pre-award requirements before starting award-funded work.

If the Proposal Is Not Selected

Distinguish an administrative rejection from a technical or commercial review decision. Read the notice, request available reviewer feedback or a debriefing, and ask the named contact which correction, resubmission, or review procedure applies. An unfunded proposal is not an invitation to send the same document unchanged to another topic.

For preparation help, use the Lab to Market assistance network or the agency’s applicant-assistance route. The issuing agency handles the proposal and award; SBA’s general home page is not your SBIR application-status system.