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Small Business Innovation Research / Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR)

Established: 2026-04-05 | Updated: 2026-04-06 (pipeline linkage analysis) | Data snapshot: 2026-04-04

Program Summary

SBIR/STTR is the largest program in TechPort by a wide margin: 12,272 projects = 60.9% of the entire database. These are competitive small-business R&D contracts awarded in two phases: Phase I (~6 months, ~$150K, feasibility) and Phase II (~2 years, ~$750K, prototype development). STTR differs in requiring a university research partner.

The SBIR/STTR portfolio is 98.9% completed (133 active), reflecting the short contract durations (Phase I typically completes in 6 months). Almost all projects are industry-led.

Data quality: MODERATE. Administrative tracking is better than most programs (57.4% Closed_Out), but outcome quality tracking (infusion, transition) is nearly as poor as FO. Patchy TRL (33% missing). Pipeline linkage (Advanced_From/To) covers only ~65–70% of actual Phase I→II transitions.

Quantitative Snapshot

Field Value Source
Total projects 12,272 aggregate by program
Active 133 (1.1%) aggregate by status filter
Completed ~12,139 (98.9%) implied
Program ID 73 techport_programs
Mission Directorate STMD techport_programs
Parent Program Catalyst techport_programs

TRL Distribution

TRL Count %
(none) 3,767 30.7%
4 2,801 22.8%
3 1,719 14.0%
5 1,469 12.0%
6 1,278 10.4%
7 399 3.3%
0 318 2.6%
2 299 2.4%
8 128 1.0%
1 48 0.4%
9 46 0.4%

Coverage: 66.7% (30.7% none + 2.6% TRL-0 = 33.3% missing). This is the largest absolute gap in TechPort — ~4,085 SBIR projects have no TRL data. Hypothesis: Phase I projects (short, fast) may be less consistently updated than Phase II.

Modal TRL 4 reflects typical Phase II completion: feasibility (TRL 1-3 entering) → prototype (TRL 4-5 at completion). See trl-distributions.md.

TX Distribution

TX Area Count % (of SBIR)
TX08 (Science Instruments) 2,026 16.5%
TX06 (Human Health/Life Support) 1,591 13.0%
TX01 (Propulsion) 1,260 10.3%
TX12 (Materials/Structures/Mfg) 1,150 9.4%
TX03 (Power/Energy) 844 6.9%
TX14 (Thermal) 744 6.1%
TX11 (Modeling/Simulation/IT) 657 5.4%
TX15 (Flight Operations) 617 5.0%
TX05 (Comm/Nav) 599 4.9%
(none) 154 1.3%

SBIR's TX distribution closely mirrors the overall portfolio (since SBIR = 61% of total). TX08 (instruments) dominates. Only 1.3% lack TX — good coverage.

Lead Organization Type

Virtually all SBIR projects are Industry-led (by definition). The ~10% labeled otherwise may be STTR (which requires a university partner — the university could be listed as lead in some records).

Pipeline Linkage (Phase I → Phase II)

SBIR is TechPort's only explicitly multi-phase program. The Advanced_To / Advanced_From bidirectional link connects Phase I to Phase II records.

Outcome Type Count % of 12,272
Closed_Out 7,043 57.4%
Advanced_To (Phase I with link to Phase II) 1,861 15.2%
Advanced_From (Phase II with link to Phase I) 1,847 15.1%
Transitioned_To 222 1.8%
Infused_To 23 0.19%
Canceled 0 0%

How the link works: Phase I project (e.g., 93343) has outcome Advanced To → [95710]; Phase II project (95710) has outcome Advanced From → [93343]. The link is bidirectional and confirmed for at least one tested pair.

Phase breakdown (20-record sample, session 35 2026-04-06): - All 20 sampled Advanced_From records are Phase I→II transitions — no Phase II→III examples seen - Duplicate entries are common: ~40% of sampled Phase II projects have the same Advanced_From link logged twice (identical date, partner = "Other"). This is a data artifact — not two real Phase I→II transitions. Explains part of the 1,861/1,847 near-match. - Rare case: [93343] (Phase I) → [95710] (Phase II, 2018) AND → unnamed Phase II (2022, "Other"). Same Phase I funding a second Phase II re-proposal 4 years later. - Phase III: Not observed in TechPort. SBIR Phase III (commercialization) appears to happen outside TechPort's tracking.

Self-referential Transitioned_To — distinct from Advanced_To: - Some Phase I projects show Transitioned_To → SBIR/STTR (2569) (e.g., 102441, 102768). This records the Phase I→Phase II transition as a Transitioned_To rather than Advanced_To — a separate data entry approach used inconsistently. Means the 222 Transitioned_To projects include some Phase I→II transitions, slightly inflating the true "external transition" count.

Conversion rate estimate: The 1,861 Advanced_To records represent the minimum tracked Phase I→II transitions. If the SBIR portfolio is roughly 60–70% Phase I, ~7,000–8,600 Phase I projects are in TechPort. With 1,861 linked Phase IIs, explicit linkage captures ~22–27% of Phase I projects — far below NASA's publicly cited ~35–40% Phase I→II conversion rate. Estimated 35–40% of actual Phase II projects lack Advanced_From links in TechPort.

No Canceled records: Unlike FO (22 canceled) and other programs, SBIR uses only Closed_Out as the terminal state. Terminated SBIR projects are recorded as Closed_Out, not Canceled.

Outcome Tracking

CORRECTION to prior assessment: Outcome tracking quality for SBIR is LOWER than initially rated. Revised findings:

  • Closed_Out rate: 57.4% — far better than FO (4.9%) but still 42.6% of projects have no outcome record at all
  • Transitioned_To: 222 (1.8%) — NOT "common for Phase II" as previously noted; rare
  • Infused_To: 23 (0.19%) — almost nonexistent
  • TRL-8/9 completions (174/46 = 220 total) almost exclusively have only Closed_Out outcomes, not infusion/transition records

The 23 SBIR Infused_To projects span TRL 2–8 with no concentration at high TRL. Notable examples: - 102428 Cell Reprogramming Facility — Redwire Space Technologies, TRL 4→8 (highest TRL of Infused_To set) - 95733 SPACEFORM in-space manufacturing — FOMS Inc., TRL 6→8 - 154755 Metal Plasma Thruster — Alameda Applied Sciences, TRL 6→8

Third outcome undercount mechanism: Even SBIR projects at TRL 9 (e.g., 8575 Aeroprobe FRAT Probe, TRL 8→9) record only "Closed Out" as their outcome. This is the same problem seen in FO — high-TRL completions don't receive structured Infused_To/Transitioned_To records regardless of actual downstream impact.

Comparison to FO: | Outcome | FO | SBIR/STTR | |---|---|---| | Any outcome record | 4.9% (Closed_Out only) | 57.4% | | Advanced_From/To | n/a | 15.1–15.2% | | Transitioned_To | 0 | 1.8% | | Infused_To | 0 | 0.19% |

SBIR has better administrative closure tracking than FO but outcome quality tracking (infusion, transition to mission) is nearly as poor. See outcome-tracking.md.

Transitioned_To Analysis (222 projects)

Queries: find_projects(program="SBIR/STTR", outcome_path="Transitioned_To", status=null) → 222. Full list retrieved; ~25 detailed records inspected. 2026-04-06, session 34.

Partner type breakdown (from ~25 detailed records):

Partner Type Approx share Examples
Other NASA Program/Directorate ~40–50% GCD (8789), ARMD (9802, 16802), SMD (89702, 12882, 16741), SpaceOps (9310)
"Other" (unlabeled) ~35–40% Most common single category; partner unknown
Other Government Agency ~10% DoE (8862), unnamed OGA (8730, 154599)
Industry ~5–10% Named company (e.g., QmagiQ 102741); unnamed industry
Academia ~2% Embry-Riddle (113005)

Key patterns: - NASA-internal transfers dominate. When a specific partner is named, it's almost always a NASA mission directorate or program: GCD picks up hardware; ARMD picks up aeronautics; SMD picks up instruments. This is the SBIR-to-mission pipeline working properly. - "Transitioned To → SBIR/STTR (2569)" — two projects (e.g., 102441, 102768) show a transition back into SBIR itself, meaning the concept was handed off for a new SBIR solicitation. Self-referential pipeline. - High-TRL Transitioned_To exists: 8789 Micro tube heat exchangers TRL 6→7 → GCD; 9310 colloid thruster TRL 3→6 → SpaceOps. These represent mature technologies genuinely adopted. - "Other" category hides the true distribution. ~35–40% of Transitioned_To records have no named partner — just partner: Other. This is the main interpretive limit.

TRL profile of Transitioned_To 222: Spans TRL 3-7 in the observed sample. No clear peak; represents technologies at various maturity levels being formally adopted. Distinct from Infused_To (0.19%), which is reserved for the highest-impact closures.

What Transitioned_To means for SBIR: Unlike FO (0% Transitioned_To) or the portfolio as a whole (42.6% no outcome), the 222 Transitioned_To projects represent an explicitly curated subset — cases where a program officer chose to document a formal handoff. They are the "cleanest" success signal in SBIR outcome data, despite the partner labeling gaps.

Example Phase II record: Project 113005 (SSSASAfRaS): Phase II, transitioned to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. 4 library items. A typical high-quality SBIR record.

Library Items

Completed Phase II SBIR projects often have 1-4 library items: final reports (PDFs), briefing charts, concept images, closeout documents. Project 113005 had 4 items + 1 closeout document. Less common for Phase I.

Sample Well-Documented Completed Projects

ID Title Company TRL Range Outcomes
8577 EVA Suit Ventilation Fan Creare LLC 5→6 1 (Closed_Out)
113005 Smallsat Swarm SAR VisSidus Technologies 3→4 4 (Transitioned_To academia)
89426 Miniature DBR Laser Module Photodigm Inc. 4→5 3
8719 10kW GaN Power Amplifier Group4 Labs 7→8 1 (Closed_Out)
8504 Dual-Excitation Raman Probe (lunar samples) EIC Laboratories 2→6 3

Note project 8504's TRL jump from 2→6: unusually large, may warrant investigation.

Active Projects (133, 2026-04-04)

Top lead organizations among all active projects (not just SBIR): JSC 40, Ames 30, GRC 28. SBIR active projects will be a subset led by industry firms. The active rate of 1.1% reflects normal contract churn — at any given time, roughly 133 of 12,272 historical contracts are still open.

Data Quality

Field Quality Notes
TRL ★★★ (66.7%) 33% missing is the main gap
Description ★★★ Phase II: good; Phase I: variable
Contacts ★★★★ PI + NASA PM standard
Library items ★★★ Phase II often has docs; Phase I sparse
Outcome tracking ★★ 57.4% Closed_Out; 1.8% Transitioned_To; 0.19% Infused_To; TRL-9 projects just get Closed_Out
TX assignment ★★★★★ 98.7% set

Threads for Phase 2

  1. SBIR Phase I vs Phase II data quality split: Are the 33% missing TRL concentrated in Phase I? A year-based filter might reveal whether pre-2015 records are the main gap.
  2. Technology infusion from SBIR: 110 total Infused_To records across all programs — how many come from SBIR? SBIR-to-mission infusion is the program's stated goal.
  3. Unusual TRL jumps: Project 8504 shows TRL 2→6 (4-level jump in a 6-month Phase I). This either means the technology was more mature than declared, or TRL data is unreliable for that record.
  4. Company success patterns: Which companies appear repeatedly in SBIR? Repeat contractors may indicate successful technology developers worth tracking.
  5. Topic area concentration: TX08 (instruments) at 16.5% — what kinds of instruments? Remote sensing? Biomedical? Reading a sample of descriptions would reveal whether this is a coherent cluster.