SBIR and STTR
What are SBIR and STTR grants and who can apply?
They are federal programs that fund research and development at small businesses, with no equity taken and the intellectual property staying with the company. SBIR is for small businesses; STTR is the same idea but requires a formal partnership with a research institution such as a university. Both run in phases: a small feasibility award, then a substantially larger development award, then a commercialization stage that carries no new program money. Eleven federal agencies run SBIR and five of those also run STTR, each with its own topics, timetable and culture.
Last reviewed 6 August 2026.
How the phases work
Phase I proves it could work
A short feasibility study, typically six to twelve months, at a scale meant to answer whether the technical approach holds up, not to build a product. The award sizes differ by agency and are published in each solicitation.
What it is really for: Winning Phase I is as much about earning the right to apply for Phase II as it is about the money itself.
Phase II builds it
Substantially larger and usually about two years. Generally open only to organizations that completed a Phase I, which is why the small first award matters more than its size suggests.
Phase III is commercialization, with no SBIR money
The program does not fund Phase III. What it does is give you a route: agencies can award sole-source follow-on contracts derived from your SBIR work without competing them, which is a genuine advantage that a lot of awardees never use.
Why STTR is separate
STTR exists to move research out of universities and federal laboratories and into companies. It requires a formal collaboration with a research institution, and it sets minimum shares of the work for each side, so the partnership has to be real, not nominal.
For an academic researcher with something commercializable, this is the designed path, and it is chronically under-used by people who assume these programs are for startups and not for them. The company can be one you form for the purpose.
What to know before you start
- Agencies differ more than the program name suggests
- The Department of Defense publishes specific topics and wants a solution to a named problem. The National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health are closer to investigator-initiated, where you propose the problem. Writing an NSF-style proposal for a DoD topic is a common and fatal mistake.
- Eligibility is strict about ownership
- Broadly, a for-profit US business with 500 or fewer employees, majority owned by US citizens or permanent residents, and performing the work in the United States. Venture ownership above certain thresholds restricts eligibility at some agencies and not others.
- You need SAM.gov before you can submit
- And it takes weeks. This is the single most common reason a first SBIR attempt never gets filed.
- Topics and deadlines are cyclical
- Solicitations open and close on agency timetables, not continuously, so the practical skill is watching for the window, and not searching once and concluding there is nothing there.
Who asks this most
The answer above is the same whoever you are. What Quillify does about it is not.
Related
- SAM.gov registration and your UEIHow long does SAM.gov registration take, and do I need it?
- Grants and government contracts are not the same thingWhat is the difference between a grant and a government contract?
- Who can actually apply for grantsCan my type of organization apply for grants?
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