Grants for technology and innovation
What grants exist for technology companies and innovation projects?
The center of gravity is federal: SBIR and STTR award research money to small businesses without taking equity, across eleven agencies. Beyond those sit other federal R&D programs, state innovation and commercialization funds like the ones several states run for semiconductors and advanced manufacturing, and a narrow but real set of foundations that fund technology when it serves their mission. For most companies, SBIR is the front door.
Last reviewed September 9, 2026.
SBIR and STTR carry most of the weight
SBIR is not one program. Eleven federal agencies run their own versions, each with its own topics, deadlines, and award culture. NSF and NIH read like research funders; the DoD components read like customers describing a problem they want solved. The same company can be a strong fit at one agency and unfundable at another, which is why topic selection matters more than proposal polish.
Phase I proves feasibility with a smaller award. Phase II funds the real development and is where the meaningful money is. If you hold a Phase I now, your Phase II window is a schedule, not a someday.
What sits beyond SBIR
- Other federal R&D programs
- ARPA-E, BARDA, NIST, and program offices across the agencies fund technology development outside the SBIR structure, often in larger amounts and often as cooperative agreements rather than grants. These appear as published opportunities and are searchable the normal way.
- State innovation funds
- Many states run their own commercialization and matching programs, from SBIR match awards to sector funds for semiconductors, energy, or biotech. State money is frequently faster and less competitive than federal, and pairs well with a federal award rather than replacing one.
- Government contracts
- For a technology company, a contract is often the better instrument: it is revenue, not a grant, and it comes with a customer. Quillify searches open federal and state contracts in the same view as grants, because the right answer to a funding search is sometimes a solicitation.
- Foundations, narrowly
- Foundations fund technology when it advances their mission: health tech, edtech, civic tech, climate tech. The door is narrow and mission-shaped. Peer research, finding the funders behind companies and labs like yours, works far better here than keyword search.
Check the precedent before you commit the weeks
Quillify judges federal recommendations against more than forty years of SBIR and STTR awards and recent federal spending records, and marks each one with a plain verdict: strong funded precedent, some, or none. An opportunity where agencies have repeatedly funded work like yours is worth a proposal. One with no precedent is a warning worth having before the writing starts, not after.
Where to go from here
The landscape above is the same whoever you are. What Quillify does about it is not.
Related fields
- Grants for higher education and researchWhat funding exists for higher education and academic research?
- Grants for rural developmentWhat grants are available for rural communities and rural development?
All fields, or the guides.
See who would actually fund your work.
Browsing and keyword search are free, and there is no card required.