Economic implications of raising the threshold funding limits on US Small Business Innovation Research awards

摘要

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we investigate empirically the economic implications of increasing the threshold funding limits on Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards. Specifically, we estimate the impact of an increase in an SBIR Phase II research award amount on the likelihood that the funded project will reach technical completion, that is, it will not be discontinued early or fail. Although an increase in the threshold amount of Phase II awards was mandated by the Act of 1992, and although a recent SBIR policy directive allows such, the economic implications of an increase have yet to be considered in any systematic manner. Second, we offer a call for a further evaluation of the SBIR program, and more broadly a prospective evaluation of public-private partnership science and technology programs, along the lines of an investigation of the determinants of milestone successes and failures.