Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program - Education

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program - Education is sponsored by U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences (IES). This opportunity supports mission-aligned projects and measurable outcomes.

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) | IES Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program & Applicant Information Fiscal Year 2026 ED/IES SBIR Program Solicitation Information ED/IES SBIR: Frequently Asked Questions Preventing Fraud, Waste, and Abuse The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program at the U.S. Department of Education (ED) is administered out of its research office, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).

ED/IES SBIR provides up to $1. 25M in funding in 2 phases: Phase I for $250,000 for 9 months for rapid prototype development and evaluation of new education technology prototypes and Phase II for $1,000,000 for 2 years for the full-scale development and evaluation of new education technology products. Program solicitations for Phases I and II are released annually.

Proposals are due approximately 60 later with award notifications announced 90 days or less from the submission date. Projects begin shortly after the award date. Since its inception as a program in 2002, ED/IES SBIR has made 258 Phase I awards and 99 Phase II awards, including one Direct to Phase II award.

Product Innovation. ED/IES SBIR-supported awardees have brought emerging and innovative forms of learning and instructional technologies to classrooms, such as games, assessments, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), 3D-printing, simulations, virtual worlds, artificial intelligence (AI) adaptive tutors, data dashboards, and assistive technologies.

Many of our products have won national industry awards for technological innovation in education. Research. ED/IES SBIR emphasizes rigorous and relevant research for all projects – through cycles of iterative studies with end-users (e.g., students, teachers) to inform refinements to prototypes and pilot studies.

Many ED/IES SBIR awardees publish research results in refereed journals and briefs summarizing key findings. Many awardees partner with researchers to continue evaluating their product's effectiveness after commercial launch. Read how one firm received an IES Research Grant for a multi-year efficacy evaluation after the conclusion of its ED/IES SBIR project.

Commercialization. ED/IES SBIR focuses on private sector commercialization after development is complete so that products can be disseminated to schools and be sustained over time. Each year, more than a million students and teaches from thousands of schools across the country use technologies developed through ED/IES SBIR.

Read these Success Stories. Bringing Research and Practice. Many ED/IES SBIR awards focus on developing products to advance previous IES-supported or university-based basic research into modern, scalable products ready for commercialization in schools.

Here’s how one firm developed a technology-based platform in support of an IES-supported evidence-based intervention. Annual Innovation Showcase. The ED Games Expo is an annual public event in Washington, D.

C. , attendees of all ages can demo more than 100 educational learning games and technologies and speak directly with the developers. The technologies at the Expo were developed through the ED/IES SBIR program and across more than 20 other government programs.

Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) Federal Agency Sponsors About SBIR and Federal Agency Sponsors The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program was established under the Small Business Innovation Development Act of 1982 (P. L. 97-219).

Federal agencies with extramural research and development budgets over $100 million are required to administer SBIR programs using an annual set-aside of 2. 5% for small companies to conduct innovative R&D that has potential for commercialization and public benefit. At present, 11 federal agencies provide more than $2 billion annually to for-profit small business firms and their partners.

The federal agencies participating in this program include: the Departments of Education, Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Transportation; the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation. The U.S. Department of Education operates its SBIR program through the Institute of Education Sciences.

The current SBIR Policy Directive is posted on this page. For more information on the SBIR program, please go to www. sbir.

gov . Technical Assistance Disclaimer ED/IES SBIR program personnel are permitted to address questions about the programs and provide technical assistance related to project ideas prior to the release of the annual solicitation.

Following the FAR regulations, please note that during the period of time when the annual solicitation is open, program personnel and other government officials are not permitted to provide technical assistance or respond to questions from individuals who are preparing proposals in response to the program solicitation.

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