How much funding does STTR provide?

STTR awards Phase I: up to $314K • Phase II: up to $2.1M.

Who can apply for STTR grants?

Same core eligibility as SBIR for the small business prime: A forprofit U.S. small business (≤500 employees including affiliates) More than 50% U.S.owned (with the same VCeligibility flexibility introduced for SBIR) Operationally based in the United …

STTR — Small Business Technology Transfer

U.S. Federal Government (5 participating agencies)

SBIR's sibling program — non-dilutive R&D funding that requires a formal partnership between a small business and a U.S. research institution.

Federal Non-dilutiveRequired research partner~$500M / year

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Funding Amount

Phase I: up to $314K • Phase II: up to $2.1M

Deadline

Varies by agency — multiple cycles per year

Awards Issued

~700 awards / year

Grant Type

federal

Overview

STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) is the lesser-known sibling of SBIR. It's a separate federal set-aside program — about $500 million per year across 5 participating agencies (NIH, NSF, DoD, DOE, NASA) — designed specifically to bridge small businesses and U.S. research institutions so that university research can be commercialized.

The structure looks similar to SBIR — three phases, similar award sizes — but STTR has two distinguishing requirements:

Required partnership. Every STTR proposal must be a formal collaboration between:

for-profit small business

U.S. nonprofit research institution

Specific work allocation. The small business must perform at least 40% of the work and the research institution must perform at least 30%. The remaining 30% can go to either party or to other subcontractors.

The phase structure mirrors SBIR exactly:

Phase I — Feasibility. Up to $314K over 12 months.
Phase II — R&D. Up to $2.1M over 24 months.
Phase III — Commercialization (no STTR funds, but sole-source contract pathways apply).

If your tech is built around a university lab discovery and your team includes the academic inventor, STTR is often a better fit than SBIR — and the academic partner percentage is generally easier to meet than restructuring the team.

Eligibility

Same core eligibility as SBIR for the small business prime:

A for-profit U.S. small business (≤500 employees including affiliates)
More than 50% U.S.-owned (with the same VC-eligibility flexibility introduced for SBIR)
Operationally based in the United States

Plus the research institution partner must be:

A U.S. nonprofit research institution, defined as a college or university, an FFRDC (federally funded research and development center), or a qualifying nonprofit research organization
Located in the United States

Unlike SBIR, the Principal Investigator can be employed primarily by either the small business OR the research institution at the time of the STTR award. This is a major flexibility — it lets a university PI lead the technical work while a separate small-business CEO runs the company.

The required IP allocation agreement between the partners must be in place before submission.

How to Apply

Decide between SBIR and STTR. If your tech depends on a specific university lab, instrument, or PI, STTR is usually the better fit. If your team can do the work in-house, SBIR is simpler.
Find your agency and topic at sbir.gov/topics. NIH and NSF are the most STTR-friendly agencies for early-stage life science and deep tech respectively.
Negotiate the IP allocation agreement between your small business and the research institution before submitting the proposal. Get the institution's tech transfer office involved early — these agreements can take weeks to negotiate.
Document the work plan so it clearly shows the 40% / 30% allocation. Reviewers and program officers check this carefully.
Register everywhere — SAM.gov, SBIR.gov, the agency portal (eRA Commons for NIH, Research.gov for NSF, DSIP for DoD).
Submit by the deadline. NIH STTR cycles align with SBIR cycles (Sep 5, Jan 5, Apr 5).
Decisions typically come 4–9 months after submission, depending on agency.