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Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR)

Status: Archived

Archived funding opportunity

This document has been archived.

Important information about NSF’s implementation of the revised 2 CFR

NSF Financial Assistance awards (grants and cooperative agreements) made on or after October 1, 2024, will be subject to the applicable set of award conditions, dated October 1, 2024, available on the NSF website. These terms and conditions are consistent with the revised guidance specified in the OMB Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance published in the Federal Register on April 22, 2024.

Important information for proposers

All proposals must be submitted in accordance with the requirements specified in this funding opportunity and in the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) that is in effect for the relevant due date to which the proposal is being submitted. It is the responsibility of the proposer to ensure that the proposal meets these requirements. Submitting a proposal prior to a specified deadline does not negate this requirement.

Synopsis

The Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program stimulates technological innovation in the private sector by strengthening the role of small business concerns in meeting Federal research and development needs, increasing the commercial application of federally supported research results, and fostering and encouraging participation by socially and economically disadvantaged and women-owned small businesses.

The STTR program solicits proposals from the small business sector consistent with NSF's mission. The program is governed by Public Law 112-81 (SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011). STTR policy is provided by the Small Business Administration (SBA) through the SBA Policy Directive. A main purpose of the legislation is to stimulate technological innovation and increase private sector commercialization. The NSF STTR program is therefore in a unique position to meet both the goals of NSF and the purpose of the SBIR/STTR legislation by transforming scientific discovery into both social and economic benefit, and by emphasizing private sector commercialization.

The STTR Program requires researchers at universities, Federally-Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), and other non-profit research institutions to play a significant intellectual role in the conduct of each STTR project. These researchers, by joining forces with a small company, can spin-off their commercially promising ideas while they remain primarily employed at the research institution.

This STTR Phase I solicitation aims at encouraging the commercialization of previously NSF-funded fundamental research (NSF funding lineage). It is highly desirable that the core innovation described in the submitted proposals can in some manner be linked to fundamental research funded by the NSF. This lineage must be documented in the Project Description section of the proposal here). Please note: It is NOT required that investigators of the original NSF-funded fundamental research be directly affiliated with the proposed STTR project or personnel.

NSF has formulated broad solicitation topics for SBIR/STTR that conform to the high-technology investment sector's interests. The topics are detailed on the SBIR/STTR topics homepage.

Note: The submission of the same project idea to both this STTR Phase I solicitation and the concurrent SBIR Phase I solicitation is strongly discouraged.

More information about the NSF STTR Program can be found on the Program Homepage.

Program contacts

Peter Atherton
Information and Communication Technologies (IC)
patherto@nsf.gov (703) 292-8772 TIP/TI
Prakash Balan
Chemical and Environmental Technologies (CT)
pbalan@nsf.gov (703) 292-5341 ENG/EEC
Steven Konsek
Semiconductors (S) and Photonic (PH) Devices and Materials
skonsek@nsf.gov (703) 292-7021
Glenn H. Larsen
Educational Technologies and Applications (EA)
glarsen@nsf.gov (703) 292-4607
Rajesh Mehta
Advanced Manufacturing and Nanotechnology (MN)
rmehta@nsf.gov (703) 292-2174 TIP/TI
Muralidharan S. Nair
Electronic Hardware, Robotics and Wireless Technologies (EW)
mnair@nsf.gov (703) 292-7059
Benaiah Schrag
Advanced Materials and Instrumentation (MI)
bschrag@nsf.gov (703) 292-8323 TIP/TI
Ruth M. Shuman
Biological Technologies (BT)
rshuman@nsf.gov (703) 292-2160 TIP/TI
Jesus V. Soriano
Smart Health (SH) and Biomedical (BM) Technologies
jsoriano@nsf.gov (703) 292-7795 ENG/EEC

Awards made through this program

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