Founded in 1982, the Small Business Innovation Research program is a US program that includes qualified small businesses in the country's research and development budget through grants. This report is one of a series published by the National Academies in response to a congressional request for a "comprehensive study of how the SBIR program has stimulated technological innovation and used small businesses to meet federal research and development needs." Other reports have evaluated SBIR in different sectoral contexts, but this report consists of general overview assessment of the program's effectiveness. It finds that the program is delivering results that meet most congressional objectives in that it is stimulating technological innovation, increasing private sector commercialization of innovations, using small businesses to meet federal research and development needs, providing widely distributed support for innovation activity, and fostering participation by minority and disadvantaged persons in technological innovation. It also includes recommendations for improving the program in relation to program flexibility, conduct of evaluations, improvement of program processes, readjustment of award sizes, continued focus on increased private-sector commercialization, improvement of participation by women and minorities, and increased management funding. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Read Less