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NASA describes its SBIR/STTR initiative as part of America's Seed Fund, the nation's largest source of early-stage non-dilutive funding for innovative technologies, aimed at entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses with fewer than 500 employees.
The structural news for 2026 is that NASA changed from its traditional solicitation cycle to a Broad Agency Announcement, which alters how and when opportunities appear - instead of one annual open-and-close window, multiple tracks now run on their own calendars, and a company needs to identify which track fits rather than waiting for a single date.
The 2026 tracks and their closing dates illustrate the point: Post Phase II, also called Phase II-E, closed August 11, 2026; CCRPP closed August 19, 2026; Phase II Sequential closes September 11, 2026; SBIR Ignite closes October 15, 2026; and Phase II for STTR closes October 28, 2026. SBIR Ignite is the track most worth attention from AI and autonomy companies with commercial ambitions, as it is NASA's commercially-oriented lane.
The AI relevance runs deep even though the program is not badged as an AI program: NASA subtopics routinely cover autonomous spacecraft operations, robotic systems for surface and in-space operations, onboard machine learning under severe compute and power constraints, autonomous navigation in GPS-denied environments, fault detection and prognostics, and data analysis for Earth and planetary science - the class of problems where autonomy is a hard requirement rather than a convenience because round-trip latency makes teleoperation impossible.
Awards are non-dilutive, so NASA takes no equity.
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Or search similar grants →According to the current listing, eligibility includes: Eligibility is restricted to U.S. small businesses with fewer than 500 employees; NASA describes the audience as entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses. STTR tracks additionally require partnership with a research institution. Phase II and Post Phase II tracks are restricted to firms holding the relevant prior-phase NASA award, and Phase II Sequential and CCRPP have their own prior-award prerequisites stated in the governing announcement. For 2026 NASA converted from its traditional solicitation cycle to a Broad Agency Announcement structure, so eligibility, award levels, page limits and subtopic lists are defined per track within the BAA rather than in a single annual solicitation document. Closing dates for the 2026 tracks are: Post Phase II closed August 11, 2026; CCRPP closed August 19, 2026; Phase II Sequential closes September 11, 2026; SBIR Ignite closes October 15, 2026; STTR Phase II closes October 28, 2026. Proposals must map to a published NASA subtopic, and subtopic fit is the single most common reason otherwise strong AI and robotics proposals fail here, so reading the subtopic text before writing is essential. Award amounts for 2026 are not stated on the program landing page. Applicants must open the current Broad Agency Announcement and subtopic descriptions at nasa.gov/sbir_sttr, and confirm the phase-specific award ceiling, period of performance, eligibility and closing date before preparing a submission. Confirm the full requirements in the official notice before applying.
The current listing shows NASA's SBIR/STTR landing page describes program phases with increasing award amounts but does not state 2026 dollar figures on that page. A Phase I ceiling of approximately $225,000 for the 2026 cycle is reported in secondary coverage of the solicitation; amount_min and amount_max are both set to 225,000 to reflect that single reported Phase I figure. Phase II amounts, Post Phase II and SBIR Ignite award levels were NOT confirmed in the material reviewed and are expected to be materially larger. Anyone budgeting against this must open the governing Broad Agency Announcement document for the specific subtopic and phase, because 2026 is the year NASA moved from its traditional solicitation cycle to a BAA structure and award levels should not be assumed from prior years. Verify award ceilings, matching requirements, and allowable costs in the official notice.
Applications for NASA SBIR/STTR 2026 Broad Agency Announcement for Small Business Innovation in Autonomy, Robotics and AI for Space Systems are due October 15, 2026. Build your timeline backwards from this date to cover registrations, approvals, and final submission checks.
NASA SBIR/STTR 2026 Broad Agency Announcement for Small Business Innovation in Autonomy, Robotics and AI for Space Systems is funded by U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), SBIR/STTR Program, part of America's Seed Fund. Verify program details on the funder's official page before applying.
Start from the official opportunity page linked in this listing — it carries the sponsor's submission instructions.
The NSF Computer and Information Science and Engineering: Future Computing Research (Future CoRe) program (NSF 25-543) supports foundational computing research and education with a strong emphasis on AI and machine learning. The program funds research that advances the foundations of computing including AI/ML theory, algorithms, systems, and applications. Future CoRe supports small to medium-sized research projects that can have significant impact on computing foundations. The program has target dates of February 5, 2026 and September 10, 2026 for proposal submissions (note: these are target dates, not deadlines, meaning proposals may be submitted at any time but will be reviewed in batches around these dates). Investigators may not serve as PI, co-PI, or Senior/Key Personnel on more than two proposals submitted within any consecutive 12-month period across all Future CoRe programs. This is one of NSF's primary mechanisms for funding fundamental AI and machine learning research at U.S. academic institutions, covering areas such as machine learning theory, natural language processing, computer vision, robotics foundations, and human-AI interaction.
The ONR Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (N00014-25-S-B001) is the Office of Naval Research's primary mechanism for soliciting research proposals across all naval science and technology priority areas. The BAA accepts proposals on a rolling basis through September 30, 2026 and covers ONR's full spectrum of research interests with particular emphasis on AI-related topics including autonomous maritime systems, human-machine teaming, machine learning for sensor fusion, cooperative autonomous swarm technology, undersea autonomy, and AI-enabled decision superiority. Proposals can be funded through multiple mechanisms including individual investigator grants, the Young Investigator Program (~$510K over 3 years for early-career faculty), and Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) awards ($1.5M/year for 3-5 years for research teams). ONR recommends contacting relevant program officers before submitting to discuss alignment with current research priorities. The BAA supports basic research (6.1), applied research (6.2), and advanced technology development (6.3) across the full range of naval-relevant science and engineering disciplines.
DE-FOA-0003600 is the DOE Office of Science's FY 2026 open, rolling solicitation for financial assistance, providing roughly $500 million across seven program areas: Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Basic Energy Sciences, Biological and Environmental Research, Fusion Energy Sciences, High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, and Isotope R&D and Production. AI and machine learning research is supported directly through Advanced Scientific Computing Research, while Biological and Environmental Research funds atmospheric process research, environmental systems process research, and earth-energy systems modeling — making this a major channel for AI-enhanced climate and earth system modeling work. DOE anticipates 200 to 350 new awards ranging from $5,000 to $5 million each, with project periods from six months to five years. The FOA opened September 30, 2025 and accepts applications on a rolling basis through the end of FY 2026.
The April 14 SBIR/STTR reauthorization restarted NIH's small-business pipeline after the shutdown, but the real signal is the sequencing of the new Small Business 101 webinars: program overview June 9, budget July 14, foreign risk August 18.
Read articleFor Program Year 2026, NASA replaced its single January SBIR/STTR solicitation with a Broad Agency Announcement that releases topics in appendices throughout the year — with proposal limits resetting each time. Phase I awards now run up to $225,000. Here is what the structural shift means, why it favors prepared companies, and how to build a year-round SBIR strategy around it.
Read articleNSF's rebuilt SBIR/STTR program (NSF 26-510) pairs a $305,000 Phase I with a brand-new Strategic Breakthrough award worth up to $30 million for the strongest Phase II companies. The next Project Pitch deadline is July 27, 2026. Here is how the non-dilutive funding ladder now works, why the Project Pitch gate decides everything, and how a founder should sequence the next twelve months.
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