Committee Examines Reforms to Key Research and Development Programs

Press Release

The House Small Business Committee, chaired by Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO), today conducted a hearing examining the changes made to the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs in 2011.

This oversight hearing was the first of two this year examining these programs following enactment of the SBIR and STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011 contained in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. During the 112th Congress, Graves led bipartisan negotiations on the program's reauthorization, which was its first full reauthorization in 11 years. Today's hearing focused on private sector impressions of the programs and the real world effects of numerous changes contained in that reauthorization. Government officials will be invited to testify at the upcoming hearing.

"Research and development takes time to yield profits, but the resulting innovations are creating jobs and economic growth," said Chairman Graves. "The SBIR and STTR programs are important because they invest in American ingenuity. Changes we made back in 2011 sought to increase participation in the program, ensure that the best research is funded, and make sure more ideas turn into products that can be sold, thereby creating more jobs. We appreciated today's testimony about these programs from the small business perspective."

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