Small Business Innovation Research Program

In 1982, the Small Business Innovation Development Act (P.L. 97-219) established small business innovation research (SBIR) programs within the major federal research and development (R&D) agencies. The intent of the effort was to increase government funding of small, high technology companies for the performance of R&D with commercial potential. Each federal department with an R&D budget of $100 million or more is required to set aside part of this amount to finance the SBIR activity. From its inception in FY1983 through FY1998, approximately $8.6 billion in awards have been made for 50,468 projects. The original program has been extended several times and is now scheduled to sunset October 1, 2000. H.R. 2392, as reported from the House Committee on Small Business and discharged from the House Committee on Science, would reauthorize the SBIR activity through September 30, 2007