Review of the SBIR and STTR Programs at the National Science Foundation (2023) / Chapter Skim
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4 The Landscape of NSF SBIR/STTR Awardees
4 The Landscape of NSF SBIR/STTR Awardees
Pages 65-86
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From page 65... ...
participants who subsequently win NSF SBIR/STTR awards to provide more evidence about the changing profiles of woman- and minority-owned SBIR/STTR awardees. In carrying out its work, the committee analyzed information on SBIR and STTR awardees that is available on the Small Business Administration's (SBA's)
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, while the share for Phase II awards to woman-owned small businesses has tripled from nearly 7 percent in 2011 to 26 percent in 2021.2 Because the committee did not have access to information about the applicants who did not receive NSF SBIR/STTR awards, it is difficult to determine the root causes of the increased shares of awards for woman-owned small businesses. However, the lack of a corresponding increase in the share of 1 Data on applications from woman-owned small businesses are not available prior to FY2013.
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may be responsible for the increased success of those applicants. Minority-Owned Small Businesses As discussed earlier, because the committee did not have access to applicant information, it relied on SBA's SBIR/STTR Annual Reports for any available information on the race and ethnicity of small-business owners applying to NSF's SBIR and STTR programs.
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SOURCE: Committee calculations based on U.S. Small Business Administration, SBIR/STTR Awards database, fiscal years 2013–2021 (SBIR.gov)
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The committee matched the race and ethnicity of awardees with the demographic information provided in SAM for FY2011–2021, and found that the share of SBIR/STTR Phase I and Phase II awards to African American– or Black-owned small businesses, Latine- or Hispanic-owned small businesses, and American Indian–owned small businesses is still small but shows an overall positive trend, although there is variability across time (Table 4-1)
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Small Business Administration, SBIR/STTR Awards database, FY2011–2021 (SBIR.gov) , System for Award Management database (SAM.gov)
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THE LANDSCAPE OF NSF SBIR/STTR AWARDEES 71 Adjusted Totals Asian American– (not including Asian and Pacific Islander– Total Share of American– and Pacific Owned Awards Islander–owned) Share of Share of Fiscal Phase I Phase II Year Awards Awards Phase I Phase II Phase I Phase II (FY)
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In contrast, the Phase I application-acceptance rates for woman-owned small businesses exceeded or roughly equaled the overall rates for Phase I applicants. In the case of Phase II, the data show that the applicationacceptance rates for SED-owned small businesses have been lower than overall Phase II success rates since FY2017, whereas data for woman-owned small businesses show more positive results, especially in more recent years.
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. NSF SBIR and STTR awardees in FY2021 had founded their company less than 5 years prior to receiving their award, and these companies were small, with fewer than 10 employees at the time of their award.
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Small Business Administration, SBIR/STTR Awards database (SBIR.gov) , and the National Establishment Time-Series database.
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As Table 4-4 shows, during 1985–2020, a high proportion of NSF SBIR/STTR awardees received subsequent SBIR/STTR awards from other agencies. For example, 36.5 percent of NSF awardees that received another SBIR/STTR award received that award from the Department of Defense, and 16 percent received it from the Department of Health and Human Services.
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. 50 40 Percentage of Awards 30 20 10 0 STTR SBIR FIGURE 4-7 Share of NSF SBIR/STTR awards to principal investigators with prior NSF grants.
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STTR COLLABORATIONS The committee analyzed characteristics of small businesses that receive NSF STTR awards to assess the effectiveness of the program in stimulating new collaborations and to identify any obstacles that may prevent or inhibit such collaborations. As described in Chapter 1, the STTR program requires the small 6 Committee calculations based on LinkedIn and U.S.
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NSF's STTR program requires the PI to be employed by the small business and a co-PI to be employed by the research institution. The committee compared firms that received only an NSF SBIR award with firms that received at least one NSF STTR award, some of which also received a subsequent NSF SBIR award.
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The committee found that the vast majority of NSF STTR research partners were universities (Table 4-9) ; the most common university research partners were landgrant universities.8 Not surprisingly, NSF STTR–awarded firms are less likely to partner with the federal laboratories compared with firms receiving STTR awards from other agencies.
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Small Business Administration, SBIR/STTR Awards database (SBIR.gov) , and the National Establishment Time-Series database.
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SOURCE: Committee calculations based on U.S. Small Business Administration, SBIR/STTR Awards database (SBIR.gov)
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.10 Finally, the committee looked at the relationship between small-business PIs and partnering research institutions to identify any patterns in these collaborations, using information on PIs from LinkedIn searches and institutional webpages for first-time NSF STTR awardees on or after 2001. The committee found that NSF STTR recipients most often relied on their own prior professional or educational ties when identifying a research partner.
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In the case of woman- or SED-owned small businesses, the committee found a statistically significant difference in the percentage of SBIR/STTR awards received by these firms if the firm's PI, business contact, or owner had participated in the I-Corps program before applying for the award.11 There was no statistically significant difference for applicants from EPSCoR states or TABLE 4-10 Share of NSF SBIR/STTR Awardees That Had Previously Participated in Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Non- Non SED- SED- Woman- Woman Fiscal Owned Owned Owned Owned Grand Year Firms Firms Firms Firms Total 2011 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2012 1.7 0.0 1.5 2.2 1.6 2013 5.3 2.2 4.7 6.7 5.0 2014 6.0 6.5 5.6 8.7 6.1 2015 7.4 6.1 7.4 6.9 7.3 2016 7.3 3.8 5.7 12.5 6.9 2017 8.4 6.8 7.4 12.7 8.2 2018 7.4 18.4 8.1 11.4 8.8 2019 12.5 16.9 11.8 18.1 13.2 2020 19.2 30.9 19.5 25.6 20.5 NOTE: SED = socially and economically disadvantaged.
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SOURCE: Committee calculations based on NSF I-Corps lists and U.S. Small Business Administration, SBIR/STTR Awards database, fiscal years 2012–2021 (SBIR.gov)
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Many NSF SBIR/STTR awardees receive subsequent awards from other agencies, such as the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health. Finding 4-5: SBIR/STTR awards can provide a route to commercializing research supported by NSF, but only a small share of NSF SBIR/STTR awards go to principal investigators with previous NSF (non-SBIR/STTR)
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STTR recipients tend to use prior professional and educational networks when choosing a research partner. Historically Black colleges and universities are infrequent research partners for NSF's STTR awardees.
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