Innovation
Innovation Grants
Description: The U.S. Small Business Administration administers two competitive programs to distribute federal research and development funds to small, high-technology, innovative businesses: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR, since 1983) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR, since 1999). The SBIR program encourages small businesses to explore their technological potential and provides an incentive to profit from commercialization. The STTR is a related program that is designed to facilitate the transfer of technological innovation from nonprofit research institutions to small business commercial enterprises. It primarily is a program linking research universities to commercialization efforts.
The dashboard presents the dollar value of SBIR grants in Arizona from 1983 through 2005. The SBIR figures also are shown for Maricopa and Pima counties and for the balance of the state from 1997 through 2005. The STTR figures are shown for Arizona, Maricopa and Pima counties, and for the balance of the state from 1999 through 2005. Few grants have been made to companies outside of Maricopa and Pima counties. Both unadjusted and inflation-adjusted figures are shown. The data are inflation adjusted using the gross domestic product (GDP) implicit price deflator. The inflation-adjusted dollars are expressed in terms of the latest year of data available.
Rationale: The ability of the state to attract a significant share of SBIR grants is a reflection of the business climate for innovative activity. Monitoring the pace of SBIR grant activity may be a good way to gauge the extent to which the state’s entrepreneurial community is engaged in innovative entrepreneurship that can be wealth enhancing. The STTR program is one measure of the proclivity of the state’s research institutions to pursue opportunities for commercialized innovation initiatives.
Data Sources: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Technology http://tech-net.sba.gov/tech-net/public/dsp_search.cfm. State and zip code data may be directly obtained from the website. Data by county must be compiled from company addresses. The GDP implicit price deflator is available from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis http://www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/SelectTable.asp?Selected=Y (Table 1.1.9).
Comments on the Quality of the Data: STTR grants may represent partnerships with universities outside the state.
