{
  "markdown": "# SBIR — Small Business Innovation Research Awards\n\nThe Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program data. Federal R&D awards to small businesses across NIH, DoD, NSF, NASA, DOE, and other agencies. ~$5B/year flowing to small companies for early-stage research. Free, no auth.\n\nPart of [Pipeworx](https://pipeworx.io) — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1476+ live data sources.\n\n## Why this matters for AI agents\n\nFor researching small-business tech innovation, federal R&D priorities, or \"who's getting funded for X technology?\" SBIR is the source. Different from [USAspending](/docs/reference/usaspending) (which has the same data plus all other federal awards) — SBIR is curated, smaller, easier to search for early-stage R&D specifically.\n\nCommon flows:\n\n- **Award search.** \"AI / cybersecurity / clean energy SBIR awards?\" → keyword search.\n- **Company history.** \"What has X received in SBIR funding?\" → company-level search.\n- **Agency portfolio.** \"What's NASA funding under SBIR?\" → agency filter.\n- **Phase tracking.** Phase I (proof of concept, ~$250k), Phase II (development, ~$1M+), Phase III (commercialization).\n\n## Auth\n\nNone. SBIR.gov is fully public.\n\n## Award structure\n\n| Phase | Typical award | Duration | Purpose |\n|---|---|---|---|\n| Phase I | $50k-$300k | 6-12 months | Feasibility study |\n| Phase II | $750k-$2M | 24 months | Prototype development |\n| Phase III | No SBIR funds | Variable | Commercialization (other federal $$ or private) |\n\nA Phase II award means the Phase I succeeded enough that an agency wants to invest more. Phase III means the technology graduated to procurement or larger contracts.\n\n## Participating agencies\n\n11 federal agencies have SBIR programs: DoD, HHS (NIH), NASA, NSF, DOE, USDA, EPA, DHS, DOT, ED, NIST.\n\nDoD and NIH together account for ~70% of SBIR/STTR dollars. Each agency has different priorities (DoD: defense tech; NIH: biomedical; NASA: space tech; NSF: foundational research).\n\n## Common pitfalls\n\n- **STTR vs SBIR.** Both are Small Business set-asides. STTR (Technology Transfer) requires a research-institution partner; SBIR doesn't. Funding is similar.\n- **Topic codes vary by agency.** DoD has detailed topic codes (specific defense problems); NIH uses broader project topics. Cross-agency comparison by \"topic\" is messy.\n- **Phase III isn't an SBIR award.** It's commercialization-track funding from other sources. Don't expect to find Phase III dollar figures in SBIR data.\n- **Award dates lag.** Awards appear publicly after legal cure periods. Recent quarters may be incomplete.\n- **Sole proprietorship to acquisition pathways.** Successful SBIR companies often get acquired before commercialization. The award history doesn't always tell you what happened to the technology after Phase II — track the company separately via SEC EDGAR if it went public.\n- **Small business definition.** SBIR-eligible companies are <500 employees AND meet other size standards. Some \"small\" companies get acquired after winning Phase I; eligibility is checked at the time of award.\n\n## Quick Start\n\nAdd to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):\n\n```json\n{\n  \"mcpServers\": {\n    \"sbir\": {\n      \"url\": \"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/sbir/mcp\"\n    }\n  }\n}\n```\n\n### What this endpoint actually serves\n\n`tools/list` at `https://gateway.pipeworx.io/sbir/mcp` returns the tools in the table\nabove **plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools** — `ask_pipeworx`,\n`discover_tools`, `search_within`, `remember`/`recall` and the rest of the\ngateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a\nsingle-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the\npack's own. The connection's `initialize` response states its exact scope, and\nis the authoritative answer for a given day.\n\nThis is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a\nscoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via\n`ask_pipeworx`, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a\nsecond MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without\nthem; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth,\nconnect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.\n\nOr connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed\ndirectly, instead of just this one's:\n\n```json\n{\n  \"mcpServers\": {\n    \"pipeworx\": {\n      \"url\": \"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp\"\n    }\n  }\n}\n```\n\nBoth URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1476+ data sources. The\nonly difference is which pack's tools are listed **directly**; `ask_pipeworx`\nreaches all of them from either one.\n\n## Using with ask_pipeworx\n\nInstead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English —\nthis works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:\n\n```\nask_pipeworx({ question: \"your question about Sbir data\" })\n```\n\nThe gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.\n\n## More\n\n- [Docs and guides](https://pipeworx.io/docs)\n- [pipeworx.io](https://pipeworx.io)\n\n## License\n\nMIT\n",
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}