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 mandato…
Same deep-tech scope as NSF SBIR Phase I — AI, semiconductors, robotics, quantum, energy, advanced materials, biological technologies, biomedical devices, photonics, environmental tech, manufacturing — but the project must be a substantive collaboration between a small business and a non-profit US research institution (typically a university).
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