Overview
- President Donald Trump signed the Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act on April 13, reauthorizing the SBIR and STTR small‑business R&D grant programs.
- NIH said it has reopened its SBIR/STTR Seed Fund, with up to $1.4 billion a year available and noncompeting continuation awards resuming.
- The five‑year law runs through Sept. 30, 2031 and adds stricter national‑security screening for applicants across agencies that together award more than $4 billion annually.
- Congress declined to set lifetime caps on companies, instead directing agencies to limit how often firms can apply each year and creating a Strategic Breakthrough Allocation of up to $30 million that requires matching funds.
- The restart follows a roughly six‑month lapse that froze solicitations, with space and defense firms celebrating the return of funding as others report canceled studies, staff losses, and longer waits for new application windows such as NIH’s next September cycle.