What is SBIR?
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, also known as America's Seed Fund, is one of the largest sources of early-stage capital for technology commercialization in the United States.
SBIR is a federal program that allows small businesses to compete for research dollars to test, prototype and commercialize new products. Small businesses are creative and flexible and can bring new solutions to the market quickly.
SBIR Writing Group Details
- 4 Workshops weekly via Zoom
- Registration includes FREE premium multi-month access to TurboSBIR to compile and submit application.
Topics Covered
- Identifying funding topics
- Specific Aims
- Letters of Intent
- Work Plan
- Innovation and Impact
- Biosketches
- Research Plan and Budget
- Commercialization Plan
Get Started Today
The facilitators at The Brink SBDC introduced me to the concept of SBIR grants, helped me navigate through the complexities of federal grant writing, and were always available to help at a moment's notice. Without them, I never would have received my $150,000 Phase 1 award. I can't imagine writing an SBIR proposal without help from The Brink. Their hard-won experience, germane insights, and how-to workshops take a seemingly impossible task and make it manageable. Don't get me wrong - it's still really hard - but you now have a resource to help organize and translate all that gov-speak into an actionable to-do list.
The SBIR workshop allowed us to prepare a competitive and well scored application. The schedule and agenda were really well aligned with the application deadline and following it helped us to stay on top of many of the administrative requirements that are easily overlooked but can derail the application fast if not taken care off. The group of like-minded entrepreneurs in the life science field that we were partnered with provided much constructive feedback on our aims and research strategy. In many ways they peer-reviewed our application in a manner not too dissimilar how the study section reviewers at the NIH would do. I would strongly recommend any individual or company that is considering submitting their first SBIR application to take advantage of what this workshop can offer.
Thank you to our San Diego SBIR Partners!
- Cleantech San Diego
- Connect
- JLABS
- LaunchBio
- PTAC
- San Diego Entrepreneurs Exchange (SDEE)
- OmniSync TurboSBIR
Is an SBIR right for you?
Email us at sbdc@sandiego.edu to request a one on one consulting session to see if an SBIR is right for your company.
FAQs
The money to fund SBIR and STTR programs come from every federal agency with an extramural R&D budget over $100 million is required to contribute 2.8% to the SBIR program. In addition, every federal agency with an extramural R&D budget over $1 billion is required to contribute 0.4% to the STTR program. This equates to a combined total of $2.5 billion available annually.
*Numbers based on 2015 data
The administrator is the Small Business Administration (SBA).
The agencies participating in Small Business Innovation Research are as follows:
- DOD – Department of Defense
- NIH – National Institute of Health
- NSF – National Science Foundation
- DOE – Department of Energy
- NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- DHS – Department of Health and Human Services
- USDA – U.S. Department of Agriculture
- DOC – Department of Commerce
- DOT – Department of Transportation
- EPA – Environmental Protection Agency
- DoEd – Department of Education
The agencies participating in Small Business Technology Transfer Research are as follows:
- DOD – Department of Defense
- NIH – National Institute of Health
- NSF – National Science Foundation
- DOE – Department of Energy
- NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- USDA – Department of Agriculture
The money is awarded into three Phases.
Phase I: Feasibility/Proof of Concept: $150-225K
Phase II: Prototype: $1-2.5M
Phase III: Commercialization: Funded by private sector or by federal agencies
A small business with a defensible idea or intellectual property can apply. The Small Business Administration's definition of a small business is <500 employees.
- For SBIR the small business must perform 67% of the R&D in Phase I and 50% of the R&D in Phase II.
- For STTR the small business must have a research institution* as a partner and the small business must perform 40% of the R&D in Phase I & II.
A university or a national lab
Past SBIR Presentations
Presentations
- Winning SBIR & STTR Funding: Raising Your Chances for Success
- Winning Phase I & II SBIR/STTR Grants: Beyond the Basics
- Funding Your Innovation with SBIR Seed Capital, Private Equity & Intelligent Business Alliances
- Road to Commercialization: Customer Discovery & Validation to the Term Sheet: Lessons Learned
- The Basics of SBIR & STTR Funding
Our Partners
Funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Funded in part through a Grant with the California Office of the Small Business Advocate; all opinions, conclusions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the California Office of the Small Business Advocate.
The Accelerate California: Innovation Hub Program (Accelerate CA) is funded by the State of California and administered by the California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA).