Federal Research: Small Business Innovation Research Program Shows Success But Could Be Strengthened

We are pleased to discuss the preliminary results of our review of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The Small Business Innovation Development Act of 1982, which authorized the SBIR program, emphasized the benefits of technological innovation and the ability of small businesses to transform research and development (R and D) results into new products. As part of its continued oversight of the SBIR program, which is scheduled to sunset in 1993, the Congress directed GAO to evaluate the commercial trends (primarily sales) of products in the third, or final, phase of the program. This phase of the program, which follows the developmental work of Phases I and II, is intended to pursue commercial or government applications of the SBIR technology.