The Small Business Innovation Research Program

Small businesses have increasingly been recognized as a source of innovation and cost effective research. One way in which the Federal government encourages such innovation is through the Small Business Innovation Research program (SBIR). Initiated as a relatively small program in 1982, the SBIR set-aside is now 2.5 percent of federal agencies' R&D budgets. These funds are reserved for R&D grants to small business in a multi-phase program developed to provide support to innovative firms. Although the program's budget reached nearly $1.2 billion in 1998, it has been subject to relatively little external analysis.

As part of the Partnerships project, the STEP Board is conducting the first in-depth external review of the Small Business Innovation Research Program. Two conferences have been held. For the first event, the Board convened policymakers, academic researchers, and representatives from small business to discuss the program's history and rationale, review existing research, and identify areas for further research and program improvements. Held on 17 February 1998, this initial conference provided a rare overview of the program. The agenda and participants list are available below. The conference resulted in a summary volume of the issues affecting the program, called The Small Business Innovation Research Program: Challenges and Opportunities. It includes papers by Harvard Business School's Josh Lerner, and Roland Tibbetts, widely considered to be the "founder" of the SBIR during his tenure at the National Science Foundation. The second conference, organized at the request of the Under Secretary for Technology and Acquisition at the Department of Defense, focused on the Department of Defense’s Fast Track Initiative and provided a substantial addition to the literature on one of America's largest partnerships programs.

Meetings:

Documenting Success in the NIH/NHLBI SBIR Program (March 30, 2000)

Presentation of SBIR research results to American Economic Association (January 8, 2000)

The SBIR Program: A Review of Current Research (May 5, 1999)

SBIR Research Workshop (December 18, 1998)

Methodology Workshop: Assessment of Current SBIR Program Initiatives (October 8, 1998):

Workshop on the SBIR Program: Challenges and Opportunities (February 17, 1998

For additional information, please contact McAlister Clabaugh at 202-334-1529 or at mclabaug@nas.edu