With the expiration of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program now just 77 days away, SBTC urges small technology-based companies to contact their U.S. Senators today, calling on them to renew the program. SBIR has been the most successful federally-sponsored innovation program in the nation’s history – generating more than 60,000 patents and scores of successful technological innovations in a wide range of fields. SBIR is also the largest source of seed-stage capital for small U.S. technology-based businesses.

Expiration of the program would be anathema to economic growth at a time when the U.S. desperately needs cutting-edge innovations in energy, environmental technologies, defense, homeland security, transportation and many other fields.

Part of the delay in renewing SBIR has been caused by a number of radical changes to the program which have been proposed in the renewal bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 5819). That bill would unravel many of the strengths and safeguards of the SBIR program.

It would allow large companies to enter SBIR by owing venture capital companies that control SBIR companies. It would eliminate the required “proof of concept” for SBIR development (Phase II) awards. It would allow individual companies to obtain multiple Phase II awards simultaneously for a single technology. It would shrink the number of companies in the program by tripling award sizes without increasing the overall budget of the program. It would even allow agencies to waive the higher award limits. All of this would turn SBIR into a traditional lobbyist-driven, government pork-barrel program for a handful of politically-favored technologies, rather than the science-based support for a broad range of technologies that SBIR is today.

That’s even more reason why small companies should quickly contact their U.S. Senators. Tell your Senators to renew SBIR as it is today, not as the bill number H.R. 5819 envisions it for the future.

Please click here today for more information and to contact your Senators.