The SBIR/STTR Playbook: A 3-Part Series (Session 1)
The SBIR/STTR Playbook: A 3-Part Series
Overview:
SBIR/STTR are back. After the first authorization lapse in the programs' 43-year history, Congress reauthorized America's Seed Fund through 2031, and federal agencies are actively restarting solicitations across DOD, NIH, DOE, USDA, NSF, and NASA.
If you are a deep tech founder in AgriFoodTech, Health and Life Sciences, or CleanTech and ZEV, this is your runway. This three-part workshop series is built to get you ready to compete for non-dilutive federal R&D funding in the next 6 to 12 months.
This is not a webinar. It is a working series. You bring your company, your technology, and your questions, and you leave each session with concrete progress on a specific piece of your application strategy.
What we will cover
Session 1: Finding Your Fit Tuesday, July 7 Is SBIR/STTR right for your company at this stage? Which agencies are the right targets for your technology and commercialization path? How do you read agency topics and BAAs, and how do you choose between Phase I, Direct to Phase II, and STTR pathways? You leave this session with your top two target agencies and topics identified.
Session 2: Building a Competitive Application Wednesday, July 8 The mechanics of a winning proposal. Technical narrative, commercialization plan, team composition, budget, and letters of support. What reviewers actually look for and what kills applications. How to position a company that has private capital interest alongside federal funding. You leave with a working outline of your proposal.
Session 3: From Submission to Award and Beyond
Thursday, July 9
What happens after you hit submit, and how to set yourself up to win Phase II and turn Phase III into a real commercial pathway. We walk through the new requirements under the Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act: commercialization training, I-Corps integration, the Strategic Breakthrough Allocation, national security review, and the 90-day decision timeline. We also cover how to layer SBIR/STTR with angel and venture capital so your funding strategy holds together.
Dates and format: Three working sessions, Tuesday through Thursday, the week of July 6, 2026.
- Session 1: Tuesday, July 7
- Session 2: Wednesday, July 8
- Session 3: Thursday, July 9
75 to 90 minutes each. Working sessions, not webinars.
Presented by The Carlsen Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Sacramento State and the Sacramento Entrepreneurial Growth Alliance, co-produced with Scout Climate and Advocacy Chiefs, who deliver direct SBIR/STTR application expertise to founders.
This series is offered as part of the Accelerate California Innovation Hub, a program funded by the California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA).