Leveraging Federal Research Laboratories in your SBIR/STTR Proposals
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program was established by Congress in 1982. Its purpose has been to match small American businesses to federal research and development money and expertise. SBIR was followed by the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. While SBIR focuses on early-stage technology, STTR’s goal is to pair entrepreneurs with commercialized technology developed by universities and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (which includes Department of Energy’s national laboratories).
How Federal Research Labs Can Help With Your SBIR Proposal
FFRDCs can actually be very helpful for small businesses preparing an SBIR proposal. Each have unique capabilities that can support support research projects through:
Technical Expertise via world-class scientists and engineers that you can collaborate with to bring cutting-edge technical knowledge or unique capabilities into your proposal.
Facilities and Specialized Equipment such as wind tunnels, advanced materials labs, direct air capture testing centers, and supercomputers, that are not easily accessible or otherwise available.
While federal agencies are eligible to support SBIR projects as a subcontractor, each agency has specific requirements. For instance, while NIST cannot endorse private entities in SBIR proposals, they may consider collaborating with SBIR awardees post-award, particularly if the work aligns with NIST's mission and leverages their unique capabilities.
How to identify federal resources
To facilitate the identification of resources in these areas, the Department of Energy's Lab Partnering Service offers a centralized platform for locating expertise and facilities within the national laboratory network. This service also features a Visual Intellectual Property Search (VIPS) database, which catalogues patents according to technical domains.
Key Points
Having a federal lab or FFRDC letter of support strengthens your SBIR proposal a lot. The labs can provide support to projects through joint research (especially in Phase II and III), offer commercialization support or provide market analysis, and provide access to their networks of stakeholders. Many FFRDCs have dedicated small business collaboration or technology transfer offices. Look for "partnership," "collaboration," or "tech transfer" on their websites
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