The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is a highly competitive program that encourages small businesses to engage in federal research and development that has the potential for commercialization.

The program could improve U.S. education by prompting technology start-ups to invent products that facilitate and improve education, and to become commercially viable small businesses.

This study is the first-ever extensive analysis of publicly available data on SBIR’s efforts specific to education. The report discusses patterns among education-related SBIR awards by subject area, types of products and their educational users, awardees’ location, and other factors.

The study includes input from a panel of SBIR experts who suggested enhancements for the SBIR system that might help education entrepreneurs.