The Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs provide over $2.5 billion annually to small businesses for Research & Development (R&D). Through these programs, eleven (11) federal agencies provide funding for a wide range of proposal topic areas.

Created in 1982 by the Small Business Innovation Development Act, the programs engage small businesses in federal efforts to develop new technology, apply existing technology to new problems and improve existing technology.

About 2,000 small businesses apply for SBIR/STTR grants each year, so competition is stiff, but not insurmountable. Since 1987, North Dakota businesses have received more than $20 million in SBIR/STTR awards.

Following submission of proposals, agencies make SBIR/STTR awards based on small business qualification, degree of innovation, technical merit, and future market potential. The SBIR/STTR Program is a three-phased program:

• Phase I is the startup phase. Awards around $100,000 for approximately 6 months support exploration of the technical merit or feasibility of an idea or technology.
• Phase II awards around $750,000, for approximately two years, expand Phase I results. During this time, the R&D work is performed. Only Phase I award winners are considered for Phase II.
• Phase III is the period during which Phase II innovation moves from the laboratory into the marketplace. No SBIR/STTR funds support this phase. The small business must find funding in the private sector or other federal agency funding.

SBIR awards are earmarked for U.S. businesses; STTR programs facilitate cooperative research and development between small businesses and research institutions, like UND and NDSU.

Collaboration between academia and business is at the heart of the SBIR/STTR programs. The university is the intellectual capital of scientific and engineering knowledge and small business is a vehicle for channeling scientific discovery to the good of society. Partnerships benefit both.

Only for-profit proprietorships and small businesses (fewer than 500 employees) qualify for SBIR and STTR funding. Hence, these programs provide a unique source of seed capital for North Dakota citizens and small businesses to explore and develop innovative new product concepts. These programs are particularly important to North Dakota businesses where innovation capital is in very short supply. And there are few strings attached to SBIR and STTR funding - there is no loan repayment, no equity sacrifice, and most intellectual property rights generated on funded projects remain with the small business.

The Center for Innovation provides one-on-one assistance to North Dakota researchers and entrepreneurs who are participating or interested in participating in the SBIR/STTR programs.

Della Kapocius
701-777-3795
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Chris Diers
701-777-6505
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Center for Innovation
University of North Dakota
4200 James Ray Drive
Grand Forks, ND 58203

www.innovators.net