What is SBIR and STTR?


The SBIR and STTR programs are U.S. Government programs, intended to help certain small businesses conduct R&D. At DOE, funding takes the form of grants. Projects must have the potential for commercialization and meet specific DOE mission-specific R&D needs.

DOE offers more than sixty technical topics and 250 subtopics, spanning research areas that support the DOE mission in:

  • Energy Production
  • Energy Use
  • Fundamental Energy Sciences
  • Environmental Management, and
  • Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation

New to the DOE SBIR & STTR Programs?

We strongly encourage all to start by watching the Overview Webinar. The overview is about 1 hour and provides an in-depth understanding of the purpose of the programs, the technology areas covered, and the grant application process. To just view the presentation slides, click here (9.4MB) and in PDF here (3.4MB).

Interested in currently available funding opportunities?

The DOE SBIR/STTR Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA) are listed on our Funding Opportunities page. To learn about the technology areas with available DOE SBIR/STTR funding, view either the Topics documents or webinars in the Funding Opportunity Announcements FOA table. 

To learn about the latest grant application requirements, please view the FOA. Please note that the DOE SBIR/STTR Programs have a mandatory Letter of Intent requirement -- you must submit a Letter of Intent according to the FOA requirements to be eligible to submit a full application.