Assistance program
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program / Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program
$242.4 Million committed in FY2018–FY2026
- Agency
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agriculture, Department of
- Assistance
- Project Grants
- CFDA number
- 10.212
- What it does
- The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) administers the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, both of which focus on projects that enhance American agriculture, rural health care, rural communities and the environment. USDA SBIR/STTR PROGRAMS 1.) Stimulate technological innovations in the private sector; 2.) Strengthen the role of small businesses in meeting federal research and development needs; 3.) Increase the commercialization of innovations derived from SBIR/STTR-supported private sector research and development efforts; and 4.) Foster and encourage participation of small businesses owned by historically underserved populations.
- Who benefits
- Not Applicable
- Who applies
- Phase I is open to any eligible small independent US business. Phase II is open only to previous Phase I awardees. The SBIR/STTR Phase I and Phase II RFAs outline the specific eligibility requirements that are in place to ensure that the funds go only to small, independent US businesses. The regulations include restrictions about 1.) the type of firm; 2.) its ownership structure; and 3.) the firm’s size in terms of the number of employees. See the program RFA for more details about the SBIR/STTR eligibility requirements.
- Authorized by
- Public Law 117-183
Committed by fiscal year
* FY2026 is year-to-date — the fiscal year is still in progress, so its total is still filling in. The striped band and dashed line mark that provisional stretch.
Top recipients
By dollars committed.
How to read these numbers
- Committed through this program
Money committed under this assistance listing (its CFDA program), counted in the year each action happened.
- How it's paid
Most programs pay out one way — a grant, or a direct payment to individuals; the flow bar only appears when a program genuinely mixes types.
- Some recipients aren't itemized
For entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, the government reports one aggregate instead of naming tens of millions of people, so the recipient roster isn't part of the public record.
- Awards, counted once
An award count is the number of distinct awards with at least one action that year — each counted once, however many times it was amended.
- The colored bars
Every bar on this page splits by how the money moves:
Direct payments