NASA Small Business Innovation Research Program

This page contains background on the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, where to find more information, defines who may participate, lists NASA SBIR contacts, lists current and past SBIR proposals and projects, and provides a current program calendar.

The NASA SBIR Program

Established by Congress in 1982, the Small Business Innovation Research program helps NASA develop innovative technologies by providing competitive research contracts to U.S.-owned small businesses--companies with fewer than 500 employees. The SBIR program encourages the participation of small firms owned by women or by socially and economically disadvantaged persons in government research and development. SBIR provides seed capital to increase private sector commercialization of innovations resulting from federal research and development.

SBIR legislation requires the eleven federal agencies that spend over $100 million a year on research to set aside a small percentage of their R&D dollars for use as contracts to small companies. The current set-aside is 1.5 percent; in 1995 it will increase to 2.0 percent.

The program is structured in three phases:

Phase I is the opportunity to establish the feasibility and technical merit of a proposed innovation and the desirability of its continued development. Selected competitively, Phase I contracts last for six months and currently do not exceed $70,000.

Phase II is the major R&D effort in SBIR. The most promising Phase I projects, about 50 percent, are selected to receive contracts worth up to $600,000 and lasting up to two years.

Phase III is the completion of the development of a product or process to make it marketable in the public or private sectors. The financial resources cannot come from SBIR funds. Private investment in various forms--strategic alliances, sale of stock, loans--is the usual source of Phase III funding.

The NASA SBIR program is directed toward the development of these leading-edge technologies:

Aeronautical Propulsion and Power
Aerodynamics and Acoustics
Aircraft Systems, Subsystems, and Operations
Materials and Structures
Teleoperators and Robotics
Computer Sciences and Applications
Information Systems and Data Handling
Instrumentation and Sensors
Spacecraft Systems and Subsystems
Space Power
Space Propulsion
Human Habitability and Biology in Space
Quality Assurance, Safety, and Check-Out for Ground and
Space Operations
Satellite and Space Systems Communications
Materials Processing, Microgravity, and Commercial

Click here to obtain a listing of SBIRs by topic.

The specific aspects of these technologies in which NASA seeks innovations are described in the annual NASA SBIR Program Solicitation, which also defines the process for submitting proposals. (To obtain this document and others, see "More Information" below.)

The SBIR program has brought new ideas and sources of R&D to NASA and provided innovative solutions to problems. The excellent research reflects the imagination and dedication of the participating companies. The program is highly competitive. At NASA, only one of every eight Phase I proposals receives a contract; about half of these projects continue into Phase II.

More Information

A variety of documents and information about the SBIR program is available. You may obtain a listing of SBIRs by topic, or download project abstracts and program statistics, contract documents, lists of awards, and the current NASA SBIR Program Solicitation from the NASA SBIR FTP server.

Requests for The NASA SBIR Product Catalog, or "A Guide to Participation in the NASA SBIR Program" may be mailed or faxed to:

SBIR Program Manager, Code CR
NASA
Washington, DC 20546-0001
Fax: 202-488-7838

More program information:

Who may participate.
NASA SBIR contacts.
The 1995-96 SBIR Program calendar.

Technical comments on the contents of this page should be addressed to:

murray.altheim@hq.nasa.gov

[Page Status: Please note that the above information will be brought up to date soon. - MA, May 16, 1994]

Curator: Wayne R. Hudson
Last Updated: Mon, April 24, 1995