NSF SBIR/STTR (America's Seed Fund)

NSF STTR Phase I

Funds United States deep-tech startups partnering with nonprofit research institutions for early-stage feasibility studies.

NSF STTR Phase I is the National Science Foundation's small-business technology-transfer feasibility grant, issued under the same America's Seed Fund umbrella as NSF SBIR Phase I and carrying the same $305,000 award cap, 6–18-month performance period, and zero-equity, zero-IP-rights structure. The annual STTR Phase I pool is approximately $25 million. The defining difference from SBIR is a mandatory formal partnership with a non-profit U.S. research institution — the small business must perform at least 40% of the budgeted effort and the research-institution partner must perform at least 30%. The remaining 30% may be divided between the two or subcontracted. NSF STTR covers the same 26 deep-tech topic codes as SBIR Phase I: AI, semiconductors, robotics, quantum, energy, materials, biomedical devices, photonics, environmental technologies, advanced manufacturing, space, and wireless, among others.

Eligibility requirements are the same as NSF SBIR Phase I: U.S. for-profit small business concern, 500 or fewer employees, primary PI employment at least 51% with the small business at award time. VC-majority ownership disqualifies the applicant — the NSF exclusion applies identically to STTR as to SBIR. For STTR, the PI must maintain primary employment with the SBC, and a co-PI from the research-institution partner is required. All R&D must occur within the United States. Clinical trials and Schedule I substance research are excluded.

The application process mirrors NSF SBIR exactly: a three-page Project Pitch submitted via Research.gov must receive an official NSF program director invitation before a full proposal may be submitted; invitations are valid for the next two deadlines. Proposals are evaluated on Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts by mixed panels of technical and commercial reviewers, and written feedback is provided to all applicants. STTR Phase I is the preferred NSF entry path for university spinouts and collaborative academic-industry translational projects, where sustained engagement with the founding research lab is a core element of the commercialization strategy. Within the $305,000 cap, TABA ($6,500) and I-Corps ($25,000) allocations are available, and a 7% small-business fee is permitted.