The Small Business Technology Council (SBTC) is expressing opposition to a bill the group said would divert money away from the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program.
SBTC officials recently forwarded correspondence to the House of Representatives urging opposition to the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Improvements Act of 2017.
The Council maintains the bill would siphon $100 million in small business/university team research and development funding over five years.
“The result will be devastating to the Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, NASA and [STTR] programs, where this money will drain some 20 to 25 percent of their total budgets,” Council members wrote. “This change would significantly reduce the number of STTR awards and hundreds of high-quality small business and university technologies teams will not be funded if this provision is included.”
The Council said more than 100 small businesses signed the letter, urging Congress to refrain from taking money from small businesses, which receive 1.7 percent of federal research and development, to give more to universities already receiving 10 times as much.
STTR has a 25-year track record of successful small business technologies generating high-tech jobs and investment while fostering valuable public /private research and development sector partnerships.