SBIR spends $2.3bn per year in grants of up to $1m per start-up while STTR provides $275m.

The US Congress has agreed to increase funding for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programme until 30 September 2017 and made the schemes open to venture-backed companies.

Included in the reauthorisation of SBIR, which started in 1982, is the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, launched a decade later to target university start-ups, and what is now to be called the Commercialization Readiness Program (CRP).

SBIR spends $2.3bn per year in grants of up to $1m per start-up while…