Small Business Innovation Research

Small Business Innovation Research falls under the Air Force's Research, Development, Test & Evaluation (RDT&E) Management Support budget activity. The program aims to maximize the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of small businesses to solve technological problems. AFWERX administers the DAF SBIR/STTR program with a mission to transition agile, affordable, and accelerated capabilities by teaming commercial technology developers with Airmen and Guardian talent. The program implements three different approaches to provide funding and opportunities to small businesses: Open Topic, Specific Topic, and STRATFI/TACFI. These approaches seek to capture the best capabilities and emerging technologies, provide innovative solutions for specific problem sets defined by a DAF end user or customer, and help scale Phase II efforts to achieve technology transitions.

The Small Business Innovation Research program's specific goals include connecting diverse industry, academia, and government entities; creating capability options and prototype opportunities for the Air Force and Space Force; facilitating streamlined acquisition processes; fostering a culture of innovation; and improving Air Force capabilities by connecting innovators, simplifying technology transfer, and accelerating results. The program's funding is spread across multiple focus areas that change from year to year based on known and emerging technology gaps, warfighting demand signals, and broader assessments of the military industrial base in light of its reliance on foundational commercial industries. The expected proportional execution of SBIR/STTR funds in each fiscal year's focus area is provided along with descriptions of each of these areas. The program also outlines its plans for fund allocation in FY 2023 and FY 2024 across Specific Topic, Open Topic, STRATFI/TACFI, and administrative categories. Additionally, it highlights an increase in FY 2024 compared to FY 2023 due to a civilian pay raise assumption that should not be in this Program Element (PE).