SBIR vs. STTR: If you are participating in the SBIR program you may also want to consider participating in the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program. The STTR program is considered SBIR's twin sister, although there are some added hoops one must jump through in order to participate. Like SBIR, the STTR is the US Government's way of providing "seed" money to spawn technology growth. The key difference however is in the structure of the effort, whereas a small business must partner (via a subcontract) to a university or non-profit research institution in order to acquire STTR funding.

In addition, under the SBIR Program, the Principal Investigator must have his/her primary employment with the small business concern at the time of award and for the duration of the project period. However, under the STTR Program, primary employment is not stipulated. At least 40 percent of the STTR research project is to be conducted by the small business concern and at least 30 percent of the work is to be conducted by the single, "partnering" research institution. Although this additional business structure (the partnership via a subcontract) requires more strategic and administrative burden on the proposal team, many SBIR winners find the STTR program to nicely align with their SBIR efforts.

Lisa DeMaio is the president and founder of Virtual Contract Manager, LLC, which is a one-stop "information shop" for and about the Contract Management Community and the SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) Program. Let Virtual Contract Manager coach you on how to integrate the SBIR program into your existing business. Come visit Virtual Contract Manager and get a wealth of FREE SBIR information on our Free Articles Page and to sign up for our content-rich monthly newsletter which features one article a month on the SBIR program. Let Virtual Contract Manager help you tap the federal market and help fund your research or innovative technology. http://www.virtualcontractmanager.com/