The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, two competitively awarded, three-phase Federal Government programs, are designed to stimulate technological innovation and provide opportunities for small business. These dynamic teams of the private and public sectors include joint venture opportunities for small businesses and the nation's premier nonprofit research institutions.

Six Federal agencies reserve a portion of their Research and Development funds to be awarded via the STTR program to small business/nonprofit research institution partnerships. Please note that the Department of Homeland Security will not have an STTR offering in FY07 due to the cutting of their extramural research/research and development budget. For more information about the STTR program, visit http://www.sba.gov/sbir/indexsbir-sttr.html.

The SBIR program solicitations are issued by 11 Federal agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration and National Science Foundation. For more information about the SBIR program, visit http://www.sba.gov/sbir/indexsbir-sttr.html. In addition, Federal agencies maintain department-specific SBIR and STTR programs Web pages.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense." With an annual budget of about $5.92 billion, NSF is the funding source for approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America's colleges and universities. In many fields such as mathematics, computer science and the social sciences, NSF is the major source of federal backing.

For more information, visit www.nsf.gov.