Eleven federal agencies with outside research budgets of $100 million or more are required to award at least 2.5 percent of this R&D spending to small businesses through the SBIR program, which was created in 1982.
The awards are granted in phases, with up to $100,000 available to test the technical merit or feasibility of an idea or technology, and $750,000 available for additional research and development and evaluation of the technology's commercial potential.
Kent Hoover Washington Bureau Chief
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