Requirements
To qualify for the SBIR and the STTR program, you must meet the following requirements:
Be an American company
Have less than 500 employees
Conduct your research within the United States
At least 30% of the work requirement must be met with a non-profit research institution. This can include universities, research labs, and other organizations that meet certain criteria.
Requires that 40% of the work be carried out by a small business, with either the research partner or the small business as the primary applicant.
No venture capital ownership.
Some agencies allow SBIR companies to be owned by venture capital firms, but some do not.
To see the entire list of requirements, visit their website.
STTR is another program that seeks to stimulate American technological research by funding small businesses throughout the country. Though it still seeks to fund small businesses like the SBIR program, the STTR also focuses on developing non-profit research institutions as well. It does this by requiring applicants to partner with a research institution and distribute their workload between the participating entities. The STTR annual budget is less than the SBIR program but still boasts a minimum annual budget of $450 million annually. The STTR program emphasizes defense and aerospace development with the Department of Defense and NASA participating in the program. This program also presents a great opportunity to develop relationships and talent pipelines with amazing universities throughout the state. To read more about these programs, check out our blog post on local defense and aerospace programs here
This program also functions by distributing funds via grants or contracts, which may make the application process look different for each agency.