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Good practice Imported

SBIR/STTR — the US Federal Government's Four-Decade Small-Business R&D Funding and Procurement Pipeline

United States of America · Washington, D.C. · See the United States of America profile · See the Washington, D.C. profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 27% 76/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 1982, the US SBIR/STTR programs have channelled over $3bn a year in non-dilutive federal R&D awards to small businesses across 11+ agencies, generating 70,000+ patents, 700+ public companies and $41bn in follow-on venture capital — reauthorised through FY2031 in March 2026.

$3bn+ per year
Annual programme funding
70,000+
Cumulative patents
$41bn
Follow-on venture capital raised
SBIR/STTR — the US Federal Government's Four-Decade Small-Business R&D Funding and Procurement Pipeline

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), coordinating 11+ participating federal agencies
Period
1982–present
Keywords
R&D funding, small business, defence, health, energy, space

Context

The Small Business Innovation Development Act of 1982 created SBIR, requiring federal agencies with large extramural R&D budgets to reserve a share for small-business awards; the 1992 STTR Act added mandatory university/nonprofit partnership.

Results

The programme distributes more than $3 billion a year across agencies including NASA, DoD, NIH, DOE, NSF and USDA. Independent CSIS analysis cites cumulative outcomes of over 70,000 patents, 700+ companies that went public, and $41 billion in follow-on venture capital; DoD SBIR/STTR contracts are estimated to have supported an average of 65,578 US jobs a year over 23 years.

Conclusions

Independent reviews document a persistent equity gap: women-owned small businesses receive awards at roughly a 15% rate versus 19% eligible-population share, and minority-owned firms' share of Phase II awards has been as low as 1-2%, attributed to reviewer composition and outreach rather than eligibility rules.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Very high (> €5M)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
SBA programme coordination across 11+ federal agencies

Conditions for success

  • phased funding (Phase I feasibility, Phase II development) with Phase III expected from non-federal sources
  • mandatory university/nonprofit partnership under STTR

Common failure modes

  • persistent award-rate gap for women- and minority-owned small businesses

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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