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Small businesses with innovative R&D projects can receive grants through the SBIR program to fund exploratory research that otherwise could not be undertaken. Entrepreneurs can use the seed capital provided by SBIR to develop new technologies that will eventually be commercialized and brought to the marketplace. Started in 1976 as a small pilot program through a National Science Foundation authorization, the SBIR program was expanded in 1982 to include 11 major federal agencies. These agencies include the:
The program requires every federal agency with a budget of more than $100 million devoted to outside R&D activities to set aside at least two percent of those funds for small businesses. New Mexico has consistently been a high recipient of SBIR capital. In Fiscal Year 1993, for example, New Mexico companies received in excess of $14 million to pursue new technologies in health care, environmental technology, telecommunications, and energy. http://ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/200/204/204.htm Small Business Innovation and Research Email: sbir@hist.gov |