SOME RECENT
WINNERS

Go to sbir.gov and enter a key word relevant to your topic

Then assuming that at least one SBIR topic has been released with that key word you will see the abstracts for the topics on the right, and a list of filters on the left

When you hit enter the website will only search currently active SBIR topics. And odds are nothing will come back since SBIR topics are only active for a brief period so on the results screen select "Closed"

INTERPRETING AND PRIORITIZING THE RESULTS

The first area to look at is the Agency list. I'd start by selecting NSF, and then select the last couple years, then take a look at the topics on the right. If you see that topics are repeatedly coming up that are interesting to you then there is a pretty good chance that a similar topic will come out in the next cycle.

Next I'd look at the non-NSF agencies, so select those and the last couple years. The down side of these agencies is that because they are needs driven the past is much less of an indicator of the future than with NSF. However, you may see that there is a trend in the topics that you could apply to (e.g. at the moment there is a lot of interest in cyber, so you can be pretty sure there will be a couple cyber topics coming out of each agency, each cycle)

NOTE:   Whe you find topics that look promising make sure to engage the SBIR officer and discuss your idea. You may think your idea's a great fit, but make sure they think it is a great fit too. For more on engaging the SBIR officers see our class HERE

A QUICK RULE

One repeat SBIR winner gave us this little pearl: "Our process is pretty simple, my technical co-founder and I check all the agency SBIR topics each cycle and if we can't come up with a clever solution in about five minutes we pass. If we took an hour we could probably come up with something but somewhere out there there is a team that was able to come up with a solution in only five minutes and I don't want to compete against them."

SOME RECENT
WINNERS