Capitalizing on Science, Technology, and Innovation:
An Assessment of the Small Business Innovation Research Program

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, created in 1982, allocates 2.5% of 11 federal agencies’ R&D budgets to fund R&D projects by small businesses. The program now makes awards of approximately $2 billion annually. Despite the size and longevity of the program, it has been subject to relatively little assessment. To improve our understanding of the program’s operations, achievements, and challenges, the Congress asked the National Academies to conduct a “comprehensive study of how the SBIR program has stimulated technological innovation and used small businesses to meet federal research and development needs” and make recommendations on still further improvements to the program. To meet this mandate, an extensive green field research effort was undertaken. The project is releasing a series of assessments of the program operations at the five leading R&D agencies representing some 96% of program expenditure. These agencies include the Department of Defense, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation. The study has also prepared an additional report that provides a comprehensive overview of the program. This overview report as well as the reports focused on the programs at the Department of Defense, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation have been released and are available on the National Academies Press Web site. Charles W. Wessner, Ph.D. Director SBIR Study The National Academies 500 5th Street, NW Mail Stop W547 Washington, DC 20001 Tel: 202-334-3801 Fax: 202-334-1813 Comments: General questions, comments and suggestions about the project should be sent to Jeffrey McCullough. Web site related questions and comments should be sent to Mahendra Shunmoogam		Reports: An Assessment of the Small Business Innovation Research Program (2007) An Assessment of the Small Business Innovation Research Program at the National Science Foundation (2007) An Assessment of the Small Business Innovation Research Program at the Department of Defense (2007) An Assessment of the Small Business Innovation Research Program at the National Institutes of Health (2007) SBIR and the Phase III Challenge of Commercialization (2007) SBIR: Program Diversity and Assessment Challenges (2004)