The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are designed to move early-stage and impactful technologies closer to commercialization, but what does “commercialization” mean? 

Got federal SBIR or STTR funding? West Virginia wants to double down on your innovation through matching funds. The West Virginia Entrepreneurship and Innovation Investment Fund (EII) offers grants to businesses that have received federal SBIR/STTR awards, aiming to maximize the impact of federal research funding awards.

Excel Regional Solutions recently released the SBIR State Performance Index, which assesses state SBIR achievements using factors like economy size, research spending, high-tech firms, and research employment. Including these factors establishes a more comprehensive ranking of performance by showing how well each state's companies earn SBIR awards compared to their share of the national innovation economy. 

According to the index, West Virginia received 45 awards from 2022 to 2024, far fewer than Texas's 1,138. At first glance, this might make West Virginia’s accomplishments look insubstantial. However, the report ranks the Mountain State #18 when all factors are considered. We believe this is due to the state’s matching fund program, the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Investment Fund, and technical assistance from WV SPRINT, the SBIR FAST program administered by USRIA & WV SBDC.

The SBIR/STTR programs award over $4B annually for innovative technologies being developed by small businesses.  But what exactly is “innovation”?  And how innovative does a product concept need to be for an agency to consider it worthy of funding?

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