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SBIR vs. STTR: What's the Difference?
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. The purpose of STTR is to create a vehicle for moving ideas from research institutions to the market, where they can benefit both private sector and military customers.
Some of the requirements are a little different. For example, 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, and can be with the university or non-profit research institution.
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.
Because the effort is split between the small business and the research institution, the STTR program requires a written agreement between the small business and research institution for the allocation of intellectual property rights. The extra paperwork can be worth it becuase the STTR program provides small business with a vehicle to commericalize and profit from the research going on in our universities and non-profit research institutes.
Written by LisaDeMaio of Virtual Contract Manager.
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