Senate passes SBIR/STTR reauthorization bill
On Monday, the Senate unanimously passed a bill that would reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs through 2017. Authorizations for the programs are set to expire on July 31 and Sept. 30, respectively.
The SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2009 would increase funding for SBIR to 3.5% from 2.5% of federal agency extramural R&D budgets, and for STTR to 0.6% from 0.3%. The bill also would allow SBIR funds for companies that are majority-owned by multiple VC firms, so long as no single VC firm owns more than 49%. The bill would cap NIH awards to companies that are majority-owned by VCs at 18% of the agency's SBIR funds and would limit such funding to 8% of SBIR funds for all other agencies. The bill also would increase the size of Phase I awards to $150,000 from $100,000 and Phase II awards to $1 million from $750,000. A similar version of the bill (H.R. 2965) passed the House on July 8. ...