Technology & Innovation

Our position on SBIR Reauthorization:

Small Business California has advocated for a fair, long-term reauthorization to the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR/STTR) programs to advance the role of genuine small businesses in high-tech research.  California is the leading recipient of SBIR awards.  Currently, the SBIR program allocates 2.5% of the Federal extramural R&D budget to small technology businesses, accounting for over $2 billion a year in research dollars awarded to small companies. These dollars have been enormously productive in promoting technology innovation.  For example, as of 2005, the SBIR program has generate over 87,000 patents, more than the entire university system, and with 1/20^th of the research dollars.  Fully 25% of R&D 100 Awards, given to recognize the 100 most important technology innovations each year, go to SBIR firms.

Key legislation in the 111^th Congress:

S. 1233 SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2009 (Senators Landrieu and Snowe) – SUPPORT

Small Business California has strongly supported compromise legislation for SBIR reauthorization passed in the Senate. The Senate bill proposes to extend the SBIR program until 2023 with a gradual, 0.1% per year increase in the SBIR allocation from 2.5% currently to 3.5% in 2020 (excluding the NIH program).  The Senate bill offers a compromise on the contentious issue of the participation of large venture capital controlled companies in the SBIR program, allowing 18% of venture controlled large companies to participate in the NIH component of SBIR, and 8% of venture controlled large companies to participate in the SBIR programs of the remaining agencies.  S. 1233 also makes a moderate increase to the standard award levels to $150,000 in Phase 1 and $1,000,000 in Phase 2.

H.R. 2965 SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2009 (Rep. Altmire) – OPPOSE

The House version of SBIR reauthorization has proposed to change the definition of a small business to include the subsidiaries of large venture capital firms, which may have hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars under management.  Small Business California strongly opposes this takeover of a successful small business program by a narrow special interest.

The SBIR program has been highly successful in fueling innovation genuine small businesses over the last 25 years, using the traditional definition of a small business as a company with fewer than 500 employees owned by individual in the United States. This definition includes the subsidiaries of investment companies where the total assets controlled by the parent add up to fewer than 500 employees.  The SBIR program has never excluded investments by venture capital companies or major corporations in small high-tech firms, provide these large interests do not control to company.