Protect a Proven Pipeline for American Innovation

Welcome to DefendSBIR, an advocacy campaign to raise awareness about the urgent need for bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, which are set to expire on September 30, 2025.

For nearly 50 years, these competitive awards have supported some of the most successful technology breakthroughs in the United States, seeding critical national security innovations and addressing some of our nation’s most pressing health, energy, and other challenges.

But proposals to cap and place other arbitrary limits on the competitive awards would undermine the merit-based principles of the program, penalize proven innovators, and threaten the nation's competitive edge.

We are a coalition of companies, nonprofits, and universities working to ensure reforms to SBIR and STTR are aligned with their founding intent, include effective barriers to foreign influence, empower government agencies, and incentivize faster contracting and scaling up of new technologies.

We need your voice!
Join us on September 9 and 10, 2025, as we take our message directly to lawmakers and federal officials to DefendSBIR.

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What They’re Saying

“Punishing these multiple award winners for their successful track record would be disastrous for our efforts to develop and field new technologies." – Robert Smith, former director of the Navy’s SBIR/STTR Programs

“Punishing these multiple award winners for their successful track record would be disastrous for our efforts to develop and field new technologies." – Robert Smith, former director of the Navy’s SBIR/STTR Programs

"Top-down restrictions … would reduce the flexibility and agility of the SBIR program and risk making them less effective as tools to support new technologies." – Center for Strategic and International Studies

"Top-down restrictions … would reduce the flexibility and agility of the SBIR program and risk making them less effective as tools to support new technologies." – Center for Strategic and International Studies

“It's a program that other countries have emulated, and we are in the process of disabling our own by creating these sort of artificial caps and restrictions on the program.” - Sujai Shivakumar, CSIS

“It's a program that other countries have emulated, and we are in the process of disabling our own by creating these sort of artificial caps and restrictions on the program.” - Sujai Shivakumar, CSIS

“Legislative attempts to limit the number of awards may have unintended and counter-productive results for the overall innovation system.” – Research Policy, Vol. 1, Issue 7

“Legislative attempts to limit the number of awards may have unintended and counter-productive results for the overall innovation system.” – Research Policy, Vol. 1, Issue 7

“The defense acquisition system is funding experienced SBIR firms to help solve a range of challenges facing the force." - Richard McNamara, former submarine acquisition executive

“The defense acquisition system is funding experienced SBIR firms to help solve a range of challenges facing the force." - Richard McNamara, former submarine acquisition executive

Media

“Overall, the merit-based aspect of the SBIR/STTR programs promotes competition and delivers the best and most innovative technologies our country’s small businesses can produce. Therefore, careful consideration is needed before limiting the participation of companies with cutting-edge technologies, which could undermine innovation and weaken our national security interests.”

-National Defense Industrial Association

Resources

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